View source for Nguyễn dynasty

{{Short description|Last dynasty of Vietnam (1802–1945)}}
{{For|the surname|Nguyen (surname)}}
{{Redirect|Kingdom of Vietnam|other kingdoms|List of Vietnamese dynasties}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Đại Việt <br />{{nobold|{{lang|vi|大越國}}}}<br />{{nobold|{{small|(1802–1804)}}}}<hr/> Việt Nam <br />{{nobold|{{lang|vi|大越南}}}}<br />{{nobold|{{small|(1804–1839; 1945)}}}}<hr/>Đại Nam <br />{{nobold|{{lang|vi|大南國}}}}<br />{{nobold|{{small|(1839–1945)}}}}
| common_name            = Nguyễn dynasty
| status                 = [[Monarchy]], [[tributary state]], [[protectorate]]
| status_text            = [[Emperor at home, king abroad|Internal imperial system]] within [[Qing dynasty|Chinese]] [[Tributary system of China|tributary]] (1802–1883)<ref name=Kang-tributary>{{cite book |title= East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute |last=Kang |first=David C. |author-link=David C. Kang |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=2012 |pages=101–102 |quote=In 1802 the Nguyen dynasty was recognized with an imperial pardon and tributary status. [...] there was no doubt in anyone's mind that China was the superior and the tributary state the inferior. The Vietnamese kings clearly realized that they had to acknowledge China's suzerainty and become tributaries [...]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eastman |first=Lloyd E. |title=Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1967 |pages=34–40, 201}}</ref>{{br}}French [[protectorate]] (1883–1945)<ref>{{cite book |last=Eastman |first=Lloyd E. |title=Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1967 |pages=123–124}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858–1954 |first1=Pierre |last1=Brocheux |first2=Daniel |last2=Hémery |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2011 |pages=78–81}}</ref>{{br}}[[Japanese puppet state|Puppet state]] of the [[Empire of Japan]] (1945)<ref name="Lebra"/><ref name="Li-Reid"/>
| government_type        = [[Absolute monarchy]]
| life_span              = 1802–1945{{Efn|The predecessors of this dynasty were the [[Nguyễn lords]] (1558-1777, 1780-1802). After it collapsed with the abdication of [[Bảo Đại]], he continued to hold the title of "Emperor" of the [[State of Vietnam]] from 1949 to 1955.<ref name="pent5">{{cite web|archive-date=2011-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806004651/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |access-date=2011-07-23 |title=The Pentagon Papers, Chapter 2, "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War, 1950-1954", U.S. POLICY AND THE BAO DAI REGIME |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}
| event_start            = {{nowrap|Coronation of [[Gia Long|Gia Long Emperor]]}}
| year_start             = 1802
| date_start             = 1 June
| event1                 = [[Tây Sơn dynasty|Tây Sơn]] [[Vietnamese Civil War of 1789–1802|defeated]]
| date_event1            = 20 July 1802
| event2                 = [[Second French Empire|French]] [[Cochinchina Campaign|invasion]]
| date_event2            = {{nowrap|1 September 1858}}
| event3                 = [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|Treaty of Saigon]]
| date_event3            = 5 June 1862
| event4                 = [[Treaty of Huế (1883)|End of independence]]
| date_event4            = 25 August 1883
| event5                 = [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|Protectorate Treaty]]
| date_event5            = 6 June 1884
| event6                 = [[Empire of Vietnam#History|Declaration of Independence]]
| date_event6            = 11 March 1945
| event_end              = [[Abdication of Bảo Đại|Abdication]] of [[Bảo Đại]]
| year_end               = 1945
| date_end               = 25 August
| legislature            = None ([[rule by decree]])
| stat_year1             = 1830
| stat_area1             = 557000
| stat_pop1              = 10,500,000
| stat_year2             = 1858
| stat_area2             =
| stat_pop2              = 12,031,000
| stat_year3             = 1890
| stat_area3             =
| stat_pop3              = 14,752,000
| stat_year4             = 1942
| stat_area4             =
| stat_pop4              = 25,552,000
| p1                     = Nguyễn lords
| flag_p1                = Seal of Nguyễn Lords.svg
| p2                     = Tây Sơn dynasty
| flag_p2                = Triều đường chi ấn.svg
| s1                     = French Cochinchina{{!}}'''1862:'''<br />Cochinchina
| flag_s1                = Flag of France (1794-1815).svg
| s2                     = Annam (French protectorate){{!}}'''1883:'''<br />Annam
| flag_s2                = Flag of Central Vietnam (1885-1890).svg
| s3                     = Tonkin (French protectorate){{!}}'''1883:'''<br />Tonkin
| flag_s3                = Flag of Central Vietnam (1885-1890).svg
| s5                     = North Vietnam{{!}}'''1945:'''<br />Democratic Republic of Vietnam
| flag_s5                = Flag of North Vietnam (1945–1955).svg
| s6                     = South Vietnam{{!}}'''1955:'''<br />Republic of Vietnam
| flag_s6                = Flag of South Vietnam.svg
| image_flag             = Long tinh flag.svg
| flag_border            = no
| flag_type              = [[Long tinh flag|Court flag]]<br>({{circa}} 1920s–1945)
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Annam - S.M. Bao Daï, Le Dragon d'Annam (1980) colour scheme - Đại Nam (大南).svg
| symbol_type            = Coat of arms
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of the Nguyễn dynasty
| other_symbol           = '''[[Seals of the Nguyễn dynasty|Heirloom Seal of the Southern Realm]]'''<br />Đại Nam thụ thiên vĩnh mệnh truyền quốc tỷ<br />大南受天永命傳國璽<br />[[File:Heirloom seal of the Nguyễn Dynasty.svg|85px]]<br />(1846–1945)
| image_map              = Nguyen Dynasty (orthographic projection).svg
| image_map_caption      = Vietnam at its greatest extent (1835–1841) under the latter reign of Emperor [[Minh Mạng]]{{sfn|Woodside|1988|p=preface}}{{sfn|Goscha|2016|p=preface}}
{{legend|#346733|Vietnam in 1841}}
{{legend|#5EAF5E|[[Sip Song Chau Tai|Sphere of influence]]}}
{{legend|#5EAF5E|[[Thủy Xá and Hỏa Xá|Sphere of influence]]}}
{{legend|#0C8134|[[Tây Thành province|Vassal state lost in 1841]]}}

| image_map2              = Nguyen Dynasty, administrative divisions map (1838).svg
| image_map2_caption      = Administrative divisions of Việt Nam in 1838 during the reign of Emperor [[Minh Mạng]].
| capital                = [[Phú Xuân]] (now part of [[Huế]])
| coordinates            = {{coord|16|28|N|107|36|E}}
| national_anthem        = ''[[Đăng đàn cung]]''<br />("The Emperor Mounts His Throne")<div class="center" style="margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:Đăng Đàn cung (登壇宮) - 1941 Annam Anthem - Recreation by Prof. Liam C. Kelley (Lê Minh Khải).mp3]]</div>
| official_languages     = [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]{{br}}[[Văn ngôn]]{{br}}French (from 1884)
| religion               = '''[[State religion|State ideology]]:'''<br />[[Vietnamese philosophy#Confucianism in Vietnam|Ruism]]<br />'''Minority:'''<br />[[Buddhism in Vietnam|Mahayana Buddhism]], [[Caodaism]], [[Christianity in Vietnam|Christianity]], [[Vietnamese folk religion|Folk religion]], [[Hòa Hảo]], [[Hinduism]], [[Islam]], and [[Taoism]]
| demonym                = [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]]
| currency               = [[Zinc]] and [[copper-alloy]] [[Vietnamese cash|cash coins]] (denominated in phần, [[Vietnamese văn (currency unit)|văn]], [[Vietnamese mạch|mạch]], and [[String of cash coins (currency unit)|quán]])<br />Silver and gold cash coins and [[Sycee|ingots]] (denominated in [[Fen (currency)|phân]], nghi, [[tiền]], and [[Tael#Vietnam|lạng / lượng]])<br />[[French Indochinese piastre]] (from 1885)
| title_leader           = [[List of Vietnamese monarchs#Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945)|Emperor]]
| leader1                = [[Gia Long]]
| year_leader1           = 1802–1820 (first)
| leader2                = [[Hiệp Hòa]]
| year_leader2           = {{nowrap|1883 (last independent)}}
| leader3                = [[Bảo Đại]]
| year_leader3           = 1926–1945 (last)
| deputy1                = [[Trần Trọng Kim]]
| year_deputy1           = 1945
| title_deputy           = [[Prime Minister of Vietnam|Prime Minister]]
| representative1        = [[Minh Mạng]]
| year_representative1   = 1818–1820
| representative2        = [[Tôn Thất Thuyết]] & [[Nguyễn Văn Tường]]
| year_representative2   = 1883–1885
| title_representative   = [[Regent]]
| today                  = [[Vietnam]]<br />China<br />[[Laos]]<br />[[Cambodia]]
}}
{{Royal house
| surname = Nguyễn
| estates = [[Huế|Phú Xuân]]
| country = State of [[Đại Nam]] ([[Vietnam]])
| parent house = 
| titles = {{Unbulleted list|[[List of monarchs of Vietnam|Emperor of Đại Nam/ Emperor of Việt Nam]]<br>Titles given by the Chinese empires:<br>[[:vi:Việt Nam quốc vương|King of Vietnam]]}}
| founder = [[Nguyễn Phúc Ánh]]
| final ruler = [[Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy]]
| current head =
| founding year = 19th century
| deposition = 1945
| traditions =
}}

The '''Nguyễn dynasty''' ({{langx|vi|Nhà Nguyễn or Triều Nguyễn}}, [[chữ Nôm]]: 茹阮, [[chữ Hán]]: 朝阮) was the last [[List of Vietnamese dynasties|Vietnamese dynasty]], preceded by the [[Nguyễn lords]] and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until the start of the French protectorate in 1883. Its emperors were members of the [[House of Nguyễn Phúc]]. During its existence, the Nguyễn empire expanded into modern-day Southern Vietnam, [[Cambodia]], and [[Laos]] through a continuation of the centuries-long [[Nam tiến]] and [[Siamese–Vietnamese wars]]. With the [[French conquest of Vietnam]], the Nguyễn dynasty was forced to give up sovereignty over parts of [[French Cochinchina|Southern Vietnam]] to France in 1862 and 1874, and after 1883 the Nguyễn dynasty only nominally ruled the French [[protectorate]]s of [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]] (Central Vietnam) as well as [[Tonkin (French protectorate)|Tonkin]] (Northern Vietnam). Backed by [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]], in 1945 the last Nguyễn emperor [[Bảo Đại]] abolished the protectorate treaty with France and proclaimed the [[Empire of Vietnam]] for a short time until 25 August 1945.

The [[House of Nguyễn Phúc]] established control over large amounts of territory in Southern Vietnam as the [[Nguyễn lords]] (1558–1777, 1780–1802) by the 16th century before defeating the [[Tây Sơn dynasty]] and establishing their own imperial rule in the 19th century. The dynastic rule began with [[Gia Long]] ascending the throne in 1802, after ending the previous Tây Sơn dynasty. The Nguyễn dynasty was gradually absorbed by [[French colonial empire|France]] over the course of several decades in the latter half of the 19th century, beginning with the [[Cochinchina Campaign]] in 1858 which led to the occupation of the [[Cochinchina|southern area of Vietnam]]. A series of [[unequal treaties]] followed; the occupied territory became the [[French Cochinchina|French colony of Cochinchina]] in the [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|1862 Treaty of Saigon]], and the [[Treaty of Huế (1863)|1863 Treaty of Huế]] gave France access to Vietnamese ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. Finally, the [[Treaty of Huế (1883)|1883]] and [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|1884 Treaties of Huế]] divided the remaining Vietnamese territory into the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin under nominal Nguyễn Phúc rule. In 1887, Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin, and the [[French Protectorate of Cambodia]] were grouped together to form [[French Indochina]].

The Nguyễn dynasty remained the formal emperors of Annam and Tonkin within Indochina until [[World War II]]. [[Japanese invasion of French Indochina|Japan had occupied Indochina]] with [[Vichy France|French collaboration]] in 1940, but as the war seemed increasingly lost, [[Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina|Japan overthrew the French administration]] on 9 March 1945 and the Nguyễn dynasty proclaimed independence for its constituent protectorates two days later. It also regained Cochinchina on 14 August 1945. The [[Empire of Vietnam]] under Nguyễn Emperor [[Bảo Đại]] was a nominally independent state but actually a Japanese [[puppet state]] during the last months of the war. It ended with the [[abdication of Bảo Đại]] following the [[surrender of Japan]] then [[August Revolution]] led by the communist [[Việt Minh]] in August 1945. This ended the 143-year rule of the Nguyễn dynasty.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lockhart|first=Bruce|date=2001|title=Re-assessing the Nguyễn Dynasty|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261910969|journal=Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies|volume=15 |issue=1|pages=9–53|doi=|jstor=40860771}}</ref> Bảo Đại was later restored to power to become emperor of the [[State of Vietnam]] in 1949 until the country became a [[South Vietnam|republic]] in 1955.<ref name="pent5">{{cite web|archive-date=2011-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806004651/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |access-date=2011-07-23 |title=The Pentagon Papers, Chapter 2, "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War, 1950-1954", U.S. POLICY AND THE BAO DAI REGIME |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{TOC limit|3}}

== Names ==
{{Further|Names of Vietnam}}

=== Việt Nam ===
{{Infobox Vietnamese
|title= Country of Vietnam
|image= Việt Nam Nguyên Bảo (越南元寶) - Minh Mạng era 01.png
|caption= A ''Việt Nam Nguyên Bảo'' (越南元寶), gold [[sycee]] of 10 [[tael]]s produced during the [[Minh Mạng]] period.
|qn= Nước Việt Nam
|hn= 渃越南
}}

The name {{lang|vi|Việt Nam}} ({{IPA|vi|viə̀t naːm}}, [[chữ Hán]]: {{Vi-nom|越南}}) is a variation of {{lang|vi|[[Nanyue|Nam Việt]]}} ({{Vi-nom|[[wikt:南越|南越]]}}; literally "Southern ''Việt''"), a name that can be traced back to the [[Triệu Dynasty]] of the second century BC.{{sfn|Woods|2002|p=38}} The term "{{linktext|Việt}}" (Yue) ({{CJKV|t=越|s=越|p=Yuè|w=Yüeh<sup>4</sup>|cy=Yuht|v={{linktext|Việt}}}}) in [[Early Middle Chinese]] was first written using the [[logogram|logograph]] "戉" for an axe (a homophone), in [[oracle bone]] and bronze inscriptions of the late [[Shang Dynasty]] ({{circa|lk=no|1200}} BC), and later as "越".{{sfn|Norman|Mei|1976}} At that time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.{{sfn|Meacham|1996}} In the early eighth century BC, a tribe on the middle [[Yangtze]] were called the [[Yangyue]], a term later used for peoples further south.{{sfn|Meacham|1996}} Between the seventh and fourth centuries BC Yue/Việt referred to the [[Yue (State)|State of Yue]] in the lower Yangtze basin and its people.{{sfn|Norman|Mei|1976}}{{sfn|Meacham|1996}} From the third century BC the term was used for the non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular ethnic groups called [[Minyue]], [[Ouyue]], Luoyue (Vietnamese: [[Lạc Việt]]), etc., collectively called the [[Baiyue]] (Bách Việt, {{CJKV|t=百越|s=百越|p=Bǎiyuè|cy=Baak Yuet|v=Bách Việt|l=Hundred Yue/Viet}}; ).{{sfn|Norman|Mei|1976}}{{sfn|Meacham|1996}}{{sfn|Yue Hashimoto|1972|p=1}} The term Baiyue/Bách Việt first appeared in the book ''[[Lüshi Chunqiu]]'' compiled around 239 BC.{{sfn|Knoblock|Riegel|2001|p=510}} By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, educated Vietnamese called themselves and their people as ''người Việt'' and ''người Nam'', which combined to become ''người Việt Nam'' (Vietnamese people). However, this designation was for the Vietnamese themselves and not for the whole country.{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=405}}

The form {{lang|vi|Việt Nam}} ({{Vi-nom|越南}}) is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem ''[[Sấm Trạng Trình]]''. The name has also been found on 12 [[stele]]s carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in [[Haiphong|Hải Phòng]] that dates to 1558.{{sfn|Phan|1985|p=510}} In 1802, [[Nguyễn Phúc Ánh]] (who later became Emperor Gia Long) established the Nguyễn dynasty. In the second year of his rule, he asked the [[Jiaqing Emperor]] of the [[Qing dynasty]] to confer on him the title 'King of Nam Việt / Nanyue' ({{lang|zh|南越}} in Chinese character) after seizing power in Annam. The Emperor refused because the name was related to [[Zhao Tuo]]'s Nanyue, which included the regions of [[Guangxi]] and [[Guangdong]] in southern China. The Qing Emperor, therefore, decided to call the area "Việt Nam" instead.{{sfn|Ooi|2004|p=932}} Between 1804 and 1813, the name Vietnam was used officially by Emperor Gia Long.{{efn|At first, [[Gia Long]] requested the name "Nam Việt", but the [[Jiaqing Emperor]] refused.{{sfn|Woods|2002|p=38}}{{sfn|Shaofei|Guoqing|2016}}}}

=== Đại Nam ===
{{Infobox Vietnamese
|title= State of Đại Nam
|qn= Đại Nam Quốc
|chuhan=大南國
}}

In 1839, under the rule of Emperor [[Minh Mạng]]'s, the official name of the empire was '''Đại Việt Nam''' (大越南, which means "Great Vietnam"), and it was shortened to '''Đại Nam''' (大南, which means "Great South").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wemedia.ifeng.com/39151869/wemedia.shtml|title=韩周敬: 越南阮朝嘉、明时期国号问题析论|website=越南历史研究|access-date=31 August 2018|archive-date=31 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174708/https://wemedia.ifeng.com/39151869/wemedia.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfnp|Toda|1882|p=46}}

=== Nam Triều ===

During the 1930s [[Government of the Nguyễn dynasty|its government]] used the name ''Nam Triều'' (南朝, Southern dynasty) on its official documents.<ref name="Chánh-phủ-Nam-Triều">{{cite web|url= https://www.archives.org.vn/gioi-thieu-tai-lieu-nghiep-vu/nguoi-lao-dong-viet-nam-duoc-nghi-ngay-1-5-tu-bao-gio.htm|title= Người lao động Việt Nam được nghỉ ngày 1.5 từ bao giờ?|date= 21 January 2019|access-date= 2 February 2022|author= Nguyễn Thu Hoài|publisher= Trung tâm Lưu trữ quốc gia I (National Archives Nr. 1, Hanoi) – Cục Văn thư và Lưu trữ nhà nước (State Records And Archives Management Department Of Việt Nam)|language= vi|archive-date= 16 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716202717/https://www.archives.org.vn/gioi-thieu-tai-lieu-nghiep-vu/nguoi-lao-dong-viet-nam-duoc-nghi-ngay-1-5-tu-bao-gio.htm|url-status= live}}</ref>

=== Other names ===
Westerners in the past often called the kingdom ''Annam''{{sfnp|Verlag|1827|p=298}}{{sfnp|Toda|1882|p=41}} or the ''Annamite Empire.''{{sfnp|Hiley|1848|p=350}} However, in Vietnamese historiography, modern historians often refer to this period in Vietnamese history as '''Nguyễn Vietnam''',{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=187}} or simply Vietnam to distinguish with the pre-19th century Kingdom of [[Đại Việt]].{{sfnp|Holcombe|2017|pp=10–11}}

== History ==
=== Background and establishment ===
==== Origin of Nguyễn clan ====
{{Main|Nguyễn lords}}
The Nguyễn clan, which originated in the [[Thanh Hóa Province]] had long exerted substantial political influence and military power throughout early modern [[History of Vietnam|Vietnamese history]] through one form or another. The clan's affiliations with the ruling elites dated back to the tenth century when [[Nguyễn Bặc]] was appointed the first grand chancellor of the short-lived [[Đinh dynasty]] under emperor [[Đinh Bộ Lĩnh]] in 965.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kienthuc.net.vn/tham-cung/ai-la-te-tuong-dau-tien-trong-lich-su-viet-nam-306023.html |title=Ai là tể tướng đầu tiên trong lịch sử Việt Nam? (Who is the first prime minister in Vietnamese history?) |publisher=Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations |date=5 February 2014 |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111205346/http://kienthuc.net.vn/tham-cung/ai-la-te-tuong-dau-tien-trong-lich-su-viet-nam-306023.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Another instance of their influences materializes through [[Nguyễn Thị Anh]], the empress consort of emperor [[Lê Thái Tông]]; she served as the official regent of Đại Việt for her son, the child emperor [[Lê Nhân Tông]] between 1442 and 1453.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/34720196 |title=The development of Le government in fifteenth century Vietnam. |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=2 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002182038/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/34720196 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Lê dynasty's loyal vassal ====
In 1527, [[Mạc Đăng Dung]], after defeating and executing the [[Lê dynasty]]'s vassal, Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ in a rebellion, emerged as the intermediate victor and established the [[Mạc dynasty]]. He did this by deposing the Lê emperor, [[Lê Cung Hoàng]], taking the throne for himself, effectively ending the once prosperous but declining [[Lê dynasty|later Lê dynasty]]. Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ's son, [[Nguyễn Kim]], the leader of the Nguyễn clan with his allies, the [[Trịnh lord|Trịnh clan]] remained fiercely loyal to the [[Lê dynasty]]. They attempted to restore the Lê dynasty to power, igniting an anti-Mạc rebellion, in favor of the loyalist cause.<ref name=tai>{{Cite web |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2420927 |title=Confucian Constitutionalism in Imperial Vietnam |publisher=National Taiwan University |author=Bui Ngoc Son |date=2014 |access-date=16 September 2025}}</ref><ref name="Taylor2013">{{cite book|author=K. W. Taylor|title=A History of the Vietnamese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2HP31kOSA4C&pg=PA232|date=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-87586-8|pages=232–}}</ref> Both the Trịnh and Nguyễn clan again took up arms in [[Thanh Hóa province]] and revolted against the Mạc. However the initial rebellion failed and the loyalist forces had to fled to the kingdom of [[Lan Xang]], where king [[Photisarath]] allows them to establish an exiled loyalist government in [[Xam Neua]] (modern day Laos). The Lê loyalists under Lê Ninh, a descendant of the imperial family, escaped to Muang Phuan (today [[Laos]]). During this exile, the Marquis of An Thanh, [[Nguyễn Kim]] summoned those who were still loyal to the Lê emperor and formed a new army to begin another revolt against Mạc Đăng Dung. In 1539, the coalition returned to Đại Việt beginning their military campaign against the [[Mạc dynasty|Mạc]] in [[Thanh Hóa province|Thanh Hóa]], capturing the [[Thanh Hóa|Tây Đô]] in 1543.
<gallery>
File:VietnamMac1540.gif|Map of Vietnam from 1540 to 1592 during [[Southern and Northern Dynasties (Vietnam)|Southern and Northern Dynasties period]] shows the division of [[Đại Việt]] between {{legend|#ff00dd|[[Mạc dynasty]]}}  {{legend|#faf207|[[Lê dynasty]] under command of [[Nguyễn Kim]]}}  {{legend|#89ed6d|Kingdom of [[Champa]]}}.
</gallery>

==== Nguyễn's dominion in the south ====
{{Main|Thuận Hóa}}
In 1539, the Lê dynasty was restored in opposition to the Mạc in [[Hanoi|Thăng Long]], this occurred after the loyalist's capture of Thanh Hoá province, reinstalling the Lê emperor [[Lê Trang Tông]] on the throne. However, the Mạc at this point still controls most of the country, including the capital, [[Hanoi|Thăng Long]]. [[Nguyễn Kim]], who had served as leader of the loyalists throughout the 12 years of the [[Lê–Mạc War]] (from 1533 to 1545) and throughout the [[Southern and Northern Dynasties (Vietnam)|Northern and Southern dynasties]] period, was assassinated in 1545 by a captured Mạc general, [[Dương Chấp Nhất]]. Shortly after Nguyễn Kim's death, his son-in-law, [[Trịnh Kiểm]], leader of the Trịnh clan, killed Nguyễn Uông, the eldest son of Kim to take over the control of the loyalist forces. The sixth son of Kim, [[Nguyễn Hoàng]], fears that his fate will be like his elder brother; therefore, he tried to escape the capital to avoid the purges. Later, he asks his sister, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Bảo (the wife of Trịnh Kiểm) to ask Kiểm to appoint him to be the governor of far-south frontier of Đại Việt, [[Thuận Hóa]] (modern Quảng Bình to Quảng Nam provinces). Trịnh Kiểm, thinking of this proposal as an opportunity to remove the power and influence of Nguyễn Hoàng away from the capital city, agreed to the proposal.

In 1558, [[Lê Anh Tông]], emperor of the newly-restored [[Revival Lê dynasty|Lê dynasty]] appointed [[Nguyễn Hoàng]] to the lordship of the [[Thuận Hóa]], the territory which have been previously conquered during the 15th century from the [[Champa]] kingdom. This event of Nguyễn Hoàng leaving Thăng Long laid the foundation for the eventual fragmentation and division of Đại Việt later down the road as the [[Trịnh lords|Trịnh clan]] would solidify their power in the [[Đàng Ngoài|North]], establishing a unique political system where the [[Lê dynasty|Lê]] emperors would reign (as figureheads) yet the [[Trịnh lords]] would rule (wielding actual political power). Meanwhile the descendants of the Nguyễn clan, through the bloodline of Nguyễn Hoàng would rule in the [[Đàng Trong|South]]; the Nguyễn clan, just like their Trịnh relatives in the north, recognize the authority of the Lê emperors over Đại Việt yet at the same time solely exercise political power over their own territory.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Glimpse of Vietnam's History  |url=http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Den/5908/history/glimpse.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021044906/http://geocities.com/SoHo/Den/5908/history/glimpse.html |archive-date=21 October 2009 |access-date=2 February 2019 |website=geocities}}{{unreliable source?|date=March 2021}}</ref> The official [[Trịnh–Nguyễn War|schism]] of the two families however, would not begin until 1627, the first war between the two.

[[Nguyễn Phúc Lan]] chose the city of [[Phú Xuân]] in 1636 as his residence and established the dominion of the Nguyễn lord in the southern part of the country. Although the Nguyễn and Trịnh lords ruled as de facto rulers in their respective lands, they paid official tribute to the Lê emperors in a ceremonial gesture, and recognize Lê dynasty as the legitimacy of [[Đại Việt]].
<gallery>
File:VietnamMac1560.gif|Map of Vietnam from 1569 to 1592 shows the division of [[Đại Việt]] between land of {{legend|#89ed6d|[[Nguyễn lords|Nguyễn clan]]}} when [[Nguyễn Hoàng]] was appointed as governor of [[Thuận Hóa]] and [[Quảng Nam]] {{legend|#A8C5E6|[[Lê dynasty]] under [[Trịnh lords|Trịnh clan]]'s authority}}  {{legend|#E76AEB|[[Mạc dynasty]]}} {{legend|#DADD1F|Kingdom of [[Champa]]}}.
</gallery>

====Nguyễn-Trịnh confrontation====
{{Main|Trịnh–Nguyễn War}}

[[Nguyễn Hoàng]] and his successors started to engage in [[Trịnh–Nguyễn War|rivalry with the Trịnh lords]], after refusing to pay tax and tribute to the central government in [[Hanoi]] as [[Nguyễn lords]] tried to create the autonomous regime. They expanded their territory by making parts of [[Dark ages of Cambodia|Cambodia]] as a protectorate, invaded [[Laos]], captured the last vestiges of [[Champa]] in 1693 and ruled in an unbroken line until 1776.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://kyotoreview.org/issue-5/vietnam-champa-relations-and-the-malay-islam-regional-network-in-the-17th-19th-centuries/ |title=Vietnam–Champa Relations and the Malay–Islam Regional Network in the 17th–19th Centuries – The Vietnamese Victory over Champa in 1693 |website=Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia |author=Danny Wong Tze Ken |date=2004}}</ref><ref name="Coedes2015">{{cite book|author=George Coedes|title=The Making of South East Asia (RLE Modern East and South East Asia)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JphCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT175|date= 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-45094-8|pages=175–}}</ref><ref name="Aung-ThwinHall2011">{{cite book|author1=Michael Arthur Aung-Thwin|author2=Kenneth R. Hall|title=New Perspectives on the History and Historiography of Southeast Asia: Continuing Explorations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvWrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158|date= 2011|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-81964-3|pages=158–}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Vietnam1650.GIF|Map of Vietnam from 1627 shows [[Đại Việt]] between {{legend|#DADD1F|[[Nguyễn lords|Nguyễn]]}} {{legend|#A8C5E6|[[Lê dynasty]] under [[Trịnh lords|Trịnh clan]]'s control}}  {{legend|#E76AEB|[[Mạc dynasty|Mạc]] as rump state}} {{legend|#206A13|Kingdom of [[Champa]]}}.
</gallery>

===Tây Sơn–Nguyễn war (1771–1802)===
{{Further|Tây Sơn wars|Tây Sơn dynasty#Conquest of Nguyễn lords|Trịnh–Nguyễn War#Conquest of Huế – 1775|Lê dynasty#Tây Sơn rebellion}}

====The end of the Nguyễn lords' reign====
[[File:Tdtu- gl tau quoc 1.jpg|thumb|alt=Red, pink and white book cover|The cover of Tân Dân Tử's (1875–1955) 1930 book, ''Gia Long tẩu quốc'', depicted the exile of Nguyễn Ánh.]]
The 17th-century war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn ended in an uneasy peace, with the two sides creating de facto separate states although both professed loyalty to the same [[Lê dynasty]]. After 100 years of domestic peace, the Nguyễn lords were confronted with the [[Tây Sơn dynasty|Tây Sơn rebellion]] in 1774. Its military had had considerable losses in manpower after a series of campaigns in Cambodia and proved unable to contain the revolt. By the end of the year, the Trịnh lords had formed an alliance with the Tây Sơn rebels and captured Huế in 1775.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.englishrainbow.com/collection.asp?category=100054 |title=A Brief History of the Tay Son Movement (1771–1802) |publisher=EnglishRainbow |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-date=2 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002195926/http://www.englishrainbow.com/collection.asp?category=100054 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Nguyễn lord, [[Nguyễn Phúc Thuần]] fled south to the [[Quảng Nam province]], where he left a garrison under co-ruler [[Nguyễn Phúc Dương]]. He fled further south to the [[Gia Định Province]] (around modern-day Ho Chi Minh City) by sea before the arrival of Tây Sơn leader [[Nguyễn Nhạc]], whose forces defeated the Nguyễn garrison and seized Quảng Nam.<ref>{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|p=89}}</ref>

In early 1777 a large Tây Sơn force under [[Nguyễn Huệ]] and [[Nguyễn Lữ]] attacked and captured Gia Định from the sea and defeated the Nguyễn Lord forces. The Tây Sơn received widespread popular support as they presented themselves as champions of the Vietnamese people, who rejected any foreign influence and fought for the full reinstitution of the Lê dynasty. Hence, the elimination of the Nguyễn and Trinh lordships was considered a priority and all but one member of the Nguyễn family captured at Saigon were executed.

====Nguyễn Ánh escapes====
In 1775, the 13-year-old [[Nguyễn Ánh]] escaped and with the help of the Vietnamese Catholic priest Paul Hồ Văn Nghị soon arrived at the [[Paris Foreign Missions Society]] in [[Hà Tiên]]. With Tây Son search parties closing in, he kept on moving and eventually met the French missionary [[Pigneau de Behaine]]. By retreating to the [[Thổ Chu Islands]] in the Gulf of Thailand, both escaped Tây Sơn capture.<ref name="tk140142">{{harvnb|Thụy Khuê|2017|pp=140–142}}</ref><ref name="harvnb7">{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|p=91}}</ref><ref name="Naval,2013">{{cite book|author=Naval Intelligence Division (Anh Quốc)|title=Indo-China|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-20911-6|page=176}}</ref>

Pigneau de Behaine decided to support Ánh, who had declared himself heir to the Nguyễn lordship. A month later the Tây Sơn army under Nguyễn Huệ had returned to [[Quy Nhơn]]. Ánh seized the opportunity and quickly raised an army at his new base in [[Long Xuyên]], marched to Gia Định and occupied the city in December 1777. The Tây Sơn returned to Gia Định in February 1778 and recaptured the province. When Ánh approached with his army, the Tây Sơn retreated.<ref name="autogenerated10">{{harvnb|Phan Khoang|2001|p=508}}</ref>

By the summer of 1781, Ánh's forces had grown to 30,000 soldiers, 80 battleships, three large ships and two Portuguese ships procured with the help of de Behaine. Ánh organized an unsuccessful ambush of the Tây Sơn base camps in the [[Phú Yên province]]. In March 1782 the Tây Sơn emperor [[Thái Đức]] and his brother Nguyễn Huệ sent a naval force to attack Ánh. Ánh's army was defeated and he fled via Ba Giồng to Svay Rieng in Cambodia.

==== Nguyễn–Cambodian agreement ====
Ánh met with the Cambodian King [[Ang Eng]], who granted him exile and offered support in his struggle with the Tây Sơn. In April 1782 a Tây Sơn army invaded Cambodia, detained and forced Ang Eng to pay tribute, and demanded, that all Vietnamese nationals living in Cambodia were to return to Vietnam.<ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn|2007|p=188}}</ref>

==== Chinese Vietnamese support for Nguyễn Ánh ====
{{See also|Hoa people#Early immigration: 15th-18th centuries}}

Support by the Chinese Vietnamese began when the [[Qing dynasty]] overthrew the [[Ming dynasty]]. The [[Han Chinese]] refused to live under the [[Manchu]] Qing and fled to Southeast Asia (including Vietnam). Most were welcomed by the Nguyễn lords to resettle in [[southern Vietnam]] and set up business and trade.

In 1782, Nguyễn Ánh escaped to Cambodia and the Tây Sơn seized southern Vietnam (now Cochinchina). They had discriminated against the ethnic Chinese, displeasing the Chinese-Vietnamese. That April, Nguyễn loyalists Tôn Thất Dụ, Trần Xuân Trạch, Trần Văn Tự and Trần Công Chương sent military support to Ánh. The Nguyễn army killed [[grand admiral]] Phạm Ngạn, who had a close relationship with Emperor Thái Đức, at Tham Lương bridge.<ref name="auto1"/> Thái Đức, angry, thought that the ethnic Chinese had collaborated in the killing. He sacked the town of Cù lao (present-day [[Biên Hòa]]), which had a large Chinese population,<ref name="havrv">{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|pp=110–111}}</ref><ref name="ttkks3sdsds">{{harvnb|Phan Khoang|2001|pp=522–523}}</ref> and ordered the oppression of the Chinese community to avenge their assistance to Ánh. [[Ethnic cleansing]] had previously occurred in [[Hoi An]], leading to support by wealthy Chinese for Ánh. He returned to Giồng Lữ, defeated Admiral Nguyễn Học of the Tây Sơn and captured eighty battleships. Ánh then began a campaign to reclaim southern Vietnam, but Nguyễn Huệ deployed a naval force to the river and destroyed his navy. Ánh again escaped with his followers to [[Hậu Giang]]. Cambodia later cooperated with the Tây Sơn to destroy Ánh's force and made him retreat to [[Rạch Giá]], then to [[Hà Tiên]] and [[Phú Quốc]].

===={{anchor|Nguyễn lord – Thailand alliance against Tây Sơn}}Nguyễn–Siam alliance====
{{Main|Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút}}
Following consecutive losses to the Tây Sơn, Ánh sent his general [[Châu Văn Tiếp]] to Siam to request military assistance. Siam, under [[Chakri dynasty|Chakri]] rule, wanted to conquer Cambodia and southern Vietnam. King [[Rama I]] agreed to ally with the Nguyễn lord and intervene militarily in Vietnam. Châu Văn Tiếp sent a secret letter to Ánh about the alliance. After meeting with Siamese generals at [[Cà Mau]], Ánh, thirty officials and some troops visited [[Bangkok]] to meet Rama I in May 1784. The governor of [[Gia Định Province]], [[Nguyễn Văn Thành]], advised Ánh against foreign assistance.<ref name="PK517">{{harvnb|Phan Khoang|2001|p=517}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Huỳnh Minh|2006|p=143}}</ref>
[[File:Nguyen Anh in Bangkok.jpg|thumb|[[Gia Long|Nguyễn Ánh]] (sitting, 2nd row) in audience with King [[Rama I]] in  [[Grand Palace#Phra Thinang Amarin Winitchai|Phra Thinang Amarin Winitchai]] throne hall, Bangkok, 1782.]]

Rama I, fearing the growing influence of the Tây Sơn dynasty in Cambodia and Laos, decided to dispatch his army against it. In Bangkok, Ánh began to recruit Vietnamese refugees in Siam to join his army (which totaled over 9,000).<ref name="tt195">{{harvnb|Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn|2007|p=195}}</ref> He returned to Vietnam and prepared his forces for the Tây Sơn campaign in June 1784, after which he captured Gia Định. Rama I nominated his nephew, Chiêu Tăng, as admiral the following month. The admiral led Siamese forces including 20,000 marine troops and 300 warships from the Gulf of Siam to [[Kiên Giang]] Province. In addition, more than 30,000 Siamese infantry troops crossed the Cambodian border to [[An Giang]] Province.<ref name="TCDT124">{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|p=124}}</ref> On 25 November 1784, Admiral [[Châu Văn Tiếp]] died in battle against the Tây Sơn in [[Mang Thít District]], [[Vĩnh Long Province]]. The alliance was largely victorious from July through November, and the Tây Sơn army retreated north. However, Emperor Nguyễn Huệ halted the retreat and counter-attacked the Siamese forces in December. In the decisive battle of Rạch Gầm–Xoài Mút, more than 20,000 Siamese soldiers died and the remainder retreated to Siam.<ref>Nguyễn Khắc Thuần (2005), Danh tướng Việt Nam, tập 3, Việt Nam: Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục, tr. 195</ref>

Ánh, disillusioned with Siam, escaped to [[Thổ Chu Island]] in April 1785 and then to [[Ko Kut District|Ko Kut Island]] in Thailand. The Siamese army escorted him back to Bangkok, and he was briefly exiled in Thailand.

==== French assistance ====
{{Further|French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh}}

The war between the Nguyễn lord and the Tây Sơn dynasty forced Ánh to find more allies. His relationship with de Behaine improved, and support for an alliance with France increased. Before the request for Siamese military assistance, de Behaine was in [[Chanthaburi]] and Ánh asked him to come to [[Phú Quốc]] Island.<ref>{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|p=178}}</ref> Ánh asked him to contact King [[Louis XVI]] of France for assistance; de Behaine agreed to coordinate an alliance between France and Vietnam, and Ánh gave him a letter to present at the French court. Ánh's oldest son, [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]], was chosen to accompany de Behaine. Due to inclement weather, the voyage was postponed until December 1784. The group departed from Phú Quốc Island for [[Malacca]] and thence to [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]], and Ánh moved his family to Bangkok.<ref>{{harvnb|Trần Trọng Kim|1971|p=111}}</ref> The group arrived in [[Lorient]] in February 1787, and Louis XVI agreed to meet them in May.
<gallery>
File:Signatures of the 1787 Treaty of Versailles.jpg|Signatures on the 1787 Treaty of Versailles
File:Pigneau de Behaine portrait.jpg|[[Pigneau de Behaine]], the French priest who recruited armies for Nguyễn Ánh during Ánh's war against the Tây Sơn
</gallery>
On 28 November 1787, Behaine signed the [[Treaty of Versailles (1787)|Treaty of Versailles]] with French [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] [[Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin|Armand Marc]] at the [[Palace of Versailles]] on behalf of Nguyễn Ánh.<ref name="harvnb17">{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|pp=182–183}}</ref> The treaty stipulated that France provide four frigates, 1,200 infantry troops, 200 artillery, 250 [[cafres]] (African soldiers), and other equipment. Nguyễn Ánh ceded the [[Đà Nẵng]] estuary and [[Côn Sơn Island]] to France.<ref>{{harvnb|Tạ Chí Đại Trường|1973|p=183}}</ref> The French were allowed to trade freely and control foreign trade in Vietnam. Vietnam had to build one ship per year which was similar to the French ship which brought aid and gave it to France. Vietnam was obligated to supply food and other aid to France when the French were at war with other East Asian nations.

On 27 December 1787, Pigneau de Behaine and [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]] left France for Pondicherry to wait for the military support promised by the treaty. However, due to the [[French Revolution]] and the abolition of the French monarchy, the treaty was never executed. [[Thomas Conway]], who was responsible for French assistance, refused to provide it. Although the treaty was not implemented, de Behaine recruited French businessman who intended to trade in Vietnam and raised funds to assist Nguyễn Ánh. He spent fifteen thousand francs of his own money to purchase guns and warships. Cảnh and de Behaine returned to Gia Định in 1788 (after Nguyễn Ánh had recaptured it), followed by a ship with the war materiel. Frenchmen who were recruited included [[Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau]], [[Philippe Vannier]], [[Olivier de Puymanel]], and [[Jean-Marie Dayot]]. A total of twenty people joined Ánh's army. The French purchased and supplied equipment and weaponry, reinforcing the defense of Gia Định, Vĩnh Long, Châu Đốc, Hà Tiên, Biên Hòa, Bà Rịa and training Ánh's artillery and infantry according to the European model.<ref name="Nguyễn Quang Trung Tiến">{{harvnb|Nguyễn Quang Trung Tiến|1999}}</ref>

==== Qing China–Lê alliance against Tây Sơn ====
{{Further|Tây Sơn dynasty#Qing invasion|Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa}}
[[File:Vietnam at the end of 18th century (Vi).png|thumb|alt=Color-coded map of Vietnam|Vietnam at the end of the 18th century. The Tây Sơn army, including [[Nguyễn Huệ]], ruled the north (purple); [[Nguyễn Nhạc]] the middle (yellow), and [[Nguyễn Ánh]] the south (green).]]

In 1786, Nguyễn Huệ led the army against the Trịnh lords; [[Trịnh Khải]] escaped to the north but got captured by the local people. He then committed suicide. After the Tây Sơn army returned to Quy Nhơn, subjects of the Trịnh lord restored [[Trịnh Bồng]] (son of [[Trịnh Giang]]) as the next lord. [[Lê Chiêu Thống]], emperor of the Lê dynasty, wanted to regain power from the Trịnh. He summoned Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, governor of Nghệ An, to attack the Trịnh lord at the [[Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long]]. Trịnh Bồng surrendered to the Lê and became a monk. Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh wanted to unify the country under Lê rule, and began to prepare the army to march south and attack the Tây Sơn. Huệ led the army, killed Nguyễn Hữu Chỉnh, and captured the later Lê capital. The Lê imperial family were exiled to China, and the later Lê dynasty collapsed.

At that time, Nguyễn Huệ's influence became stronger in northern Vietnam; this made Emperor Nguyễn Nhạc of the Tây Sơn dynasty suspect Huệ's loyalty. The relationship between the brothers became tense, eventually leading to battle. Huệ had his army surround Nhạc's capital, at Quy Nhơn citadel, in 1787. Nhạc begged Huệ not to kill him, and they reconciled. In 1788, Lê emperor Lê Chiêu Thống fled to China and asked for military assistance. The [[Qianlong Emperor]] of the Qing ordered [[Sun Shiyi]] to lead the military campaign into Vietnam. The campaign failed, and later on, the Qing recognized the Tây Sơn as the legitimate dynasty in Vietnam. However, with the death of Huệ (1792), the Tây Sơn dynasty began to weaken.

==== Franco–Nguyễn alliance against Tây Sơn ====
{{Main|Vietnamese Civil War of 1789–1802}}

===== Nguyễn Ánh's counter-attack =====
Ánh began to reorganize a strong armed force in Siam. He left Siam (after thanking King Rama I), and returned to Vietnam.<ref name="harvnb35">{{harvnb|Đặng Việt Thủy|Đặng Thành Trung|2008|p=279}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated6>{{harvnb|Phan Khoang|2001|p=519}}</ref> During the 1787 war between Nguyễn Huệ and Nguyễn Nhạc in northern Vietnam, Ánh recaptured the southern Vietnamese capital of Gia Định. Southern Vietnam had been ruled by the Nguyễns and they remained popular, especially with the ethnic Chinese. [[Nguyễn Lữ]], the youngest brother of Tây Sơn (who ruled southern Vietnam), could not defend the citadel and retreated to [[Quy Nhơn]]. The citadel of Gia Định was seized by the Nguyễn lords.<ref name="harvnb999">{{harvnb|Sơn Nam|2009|pp=54–55}}</ref><br />
In 1788 de Behaine and Ánh's son, Prince Cảnh, arrived in Gia Định with modern war equipment and more than twenty Frenchmen who wanted to join the army. The force was trained and strengthened with French assistance.<ref>{{harvnb|Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn|2007|p=203}}</ref>

===== {{anchor|Defeat of Tây Sơn}}Defeat of the Tây Sơn =====
After the fall of the citadel at Gia Định, Nguyễn Huệ prepared an expedition to reclaim it before his death on 16 September 1792. His young son, [[Nguyễn Quang Toản]], succeeded him as emperor of the Tây Sơn and was a poor leader.<ref name="harvnb24">{{harvnb|Trần Trọng Kim|1971|p=155}}</ref> In 1793, Nguyễn Ánh began a campaign against Quang Toản. Due to conflict between officials of the Tây Sơn court, Quang Toản lost battle after battle. In 1797, Ánh and Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh attacked [[Qui Nhơn]] (then in [[Phú Yên Province]]) in the Battle of Thị Nại. They were victorious, capturing a large amount of Tây Sơn equipment.<ref>{{harvnb|Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn|2007|pp=207–211}}</ref> Quang Toản became unpopular due to his murders of generals and officials, leading to a decline in the army. In 1799, Ánh captured the citadel of Quy Nhơn. He seized the capital ([[Phú Xuân]]) on 3 May 1801, and Quang Toản retreated north. On 20 July 1802, Ánh captured [[Hanoi]] and end the [[Tây Sơn dynasty]], all of the members of the Tây Sơn was captured. Ánh then executed all the members of the Tây Sơn dynasty that year.

=== Imperial rule (1802–1883) ===
==== Overview ====
In Vietnamese historiography, the independent period is referred to as the '''Nhà Nguyễn thời độc lập''' period. During this period the Nguyễn dynasty's territories comprised the present-day territories of [[Vietnam]] and parts of modern [[Cambodia]] and [[Laos]], bordering [[Thailand|Siam]] to the west and Manchu [[Qing dynasty]] to the north. The ruling Nguyễn emperors established and ran the first well-defined imperial administrative and bureaucratic system of Vietnam and annexed Cambodia and [[Champa]] into its territories in the 1830s. Together with Chakri Siam and [[Konbaung dynasty|Konbaung Burma]], it was one among three major Southeast Asian powers at the time.{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|pp=30–31}} The emperor Gia Long was relatively friendly toward Western powers and Christianity. After his reign of [[Minh Mạng]] brought a new approach, he ruled for 21 years from 1820 to 1841, as a conservative and [[Confucian]] ruler; introducing a policy of isolationism which kept the country from the rest of the world for nearly 40 years until the [[Cochinchina Campaign|French invasion in 1858]]. Minh Mạng tightened control over [[Catholicism]], [[Muslim]], and ethnic minorities, resulting in more than two hundred rebellions across the country during his twenty-one-year reign. He also further expanded Vietnamese imperialism in modern-day [[Laos]] and [[Cambodia]].

Minh Mạng's successors, [[Thiệu Trị]] (r. 1841–1847) and [[Tự Đức]] (r. 1847–1883) would be assailed by serious problems that ultimately decimated the Vietnamese state. In the late 1840s, Vietnam was struck by the global [[cholera]] [[pandemic]] that killed roughly 8% of the country's population, while the countries isolationist policies damaged the economy. France and Spain declared war on Vietnam in September 1858. Faced with these industrialised powers, the hermit Nguyễn dynasty and its military crumbled, the alliance capturing [[Saigon]] in early 1859. A series of [[unequal treaties]] followed with first the [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|1862 Treaty of Saigon]], and then the [[Treaty of Huế (1863)|1863 Treaty of Huế]] which gave France access to Vietnamese ports and increased control of its foreign affairs. The [[Treaty of Saigon (1874)]] concluded the French annexation of Cochinchina that had begun in 1862.

The last independent Nguyễn emperor of note was Tự Đức. Upon his death, a [[Order of succession|succession]] crisis followed, as the regent [[Tôn Thất Thuyết]] orchestrated the murders of three emperors in a year. This presented an opportunity to the French. The Huế court was forced to sign the [[Treaty of Huế (1883)|Harmand Convention]] in September 1883, which formalised the handover of [[Tonkin]] to the French administration. After the [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|Treaty of Patenôtre]] was signed in 1884, France finished its annexation and partitioning of Vietnam into three constituent protectorates of [[French Indochina]], and turned the Nguyễn into a vassal monarchy.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=70}} Finally, the [[Treaty of Tientsin (1885)]] between the Chinese Empire and the French Republic was signed on 9 June 1885 recognizing French dominion over Vietnam.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=71}} All emperors after [[Đồng Khánh]] were chosen by the French, and only ruled symbolically.

==== Gia Long period ====
[[Nguyễn Phúc Ánh]] united Vietnam after a three-hundred-year division of the country. He celebrated his coronation at Huế on 1 June 1802 and proclaimed himself emperor ({{langx|vi|Hoàng Đế}}), with the [[Vietnamese era name|era name]] Gia Long (嘉隆). This title emphasized his rule from "Gia" Định region (modern-day [[Saigon]]) in the far south to Thăng "Long" (modern-day [[Hanoi]]) in the north.{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=427}} Gia Long prioritized the nation's defense and worked to avoid another civil war. He replaced the feudal system with a reformist ''[[Doctrine of the Mean]]'', based on [[Confucianism]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kamm|1996|p=83}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Tarling|1999|pp=245–246}}</ref> The Nguyen dynasty was founded as a [[tributary state]] of the Qing Empire, with Gia Long receiving an imperial pardon and recognition as the ruler of Vietnam from the [[Jiaqing Emperor]] for recognizing Chinese [[suzerainty]].<ref name="Kang-tributary" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hueworldheritage.org.vn/TTBTDTCDH.aspx?TieuDeID=92&TinTucID=395&l=en |title=Brief history of the Nguyen dynasty |publisher=Hue Monuments Conservation Centre |access-date=5 February 2019 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015133/http://hueworldheritage.org.vn/TTBTDTCDH.aspx?TieuDeID=92&TinTucID=395&l=en |url-status=dead }}</ref> The envoys sent to China to acquire this recognition cited the ancient kingdom of [[Nanyue]] (Vietnamese: ''Nam Việt'') to Emperor Jiaqing as the countries name, this displeased the emperor who was disconcerted by such pretentions, and Nguyễn Phúc Ánh had to officially rename his kingdom as ''Vietnam'' the next year to satisfy the emperor.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=398}}{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=427}} The country was officially known as 'The (Great) Vietnamese state' ([[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]: Đại Việt Nam quốc),{{sfnp|Momoki|2015|p=157, "...When my father Thế tổ Cao hoàng đế [Gia Long] possessed An Nam, our kingdom was named the country of Great Việt Nam [Đại Việt Nam quốc]..."}}

Gia Long asserted that he was reviving the bureaucratic state that was built by emperor [[Le Thanh Tong|Lê Thánh Tông]] during the fifteenth-century golden age (1470–1497), as such he adopted a Confucian-bureaucratic government model, and sought unification with northern literati.{{sfnp|Whitmore|Zottoli|2016|pp=200, 226}} To ensure stability over the unified kingdom, he placed two of his most loyal and Confucian-educated advisors, [[Nguyễn Văn Thành]] and [[Lê Văn Duyệt]] as [[viceroy]]s of Hanoi and Saigon.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=400}} From 1780 to 1820, roughly 300 Frenchmen served Gia Long's court as officials.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=273}} Seeing the French influence in Vietnam with alarm, the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British Empire]] sent two envoys to Gia Long in 1803 and 1804 to convince him to abandon his friendship with the French.{{sfnp|Mikaberidze|2020|p=487}} In 1808, a British fleet led by [[William O'Bryen Drury]] mounted an attack on the Red River Delta, but was soon driven back by the Vietnamese navy and suffered several losses. After the Napoleonic War and Gia Long's death, the British Empire renewed relations with Vietnam in 1822.{{sfnp|Mikaberidze|2020|p=488}} During his reign, a system of roads connecting Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon with postal stations and inns was established, several canals connecting the Mekong River to the [[Gulf of Siam]] were constructed and finished.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=49}}{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=274}} In 1812, Gia Long issued the Gia Long Code, which was instituted based on the Ch'ing Code of China, replaced the previous Thánh Tông's 1480 Code.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|pp=46, 48}}{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=401}}{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=273}} In 1811, a [[Cambodian rebellion (1811–12)|coup d'état]] broke out in the [[Kingdom of Cambodia]], a Vietnamese tributary state, forcing the pro-Vietnamese King [[Ang Chan II]] to seek support from Vietnam. Gia Long sent 13,000 men to Cambodia, successfully restoring his vassal to his throne,{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=248}} and beginning a more formal [[Vietnamese invasions of Cambodia|occupation of the country]] for the next 30 years, while [[Siam]] seized northern Cambodia in 1814.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=276}}

Gia Long died in 1819 and was succeeded by his fourth son, [[Minh Mạng|Nguyễn Phúc Đảm]], who soon became known as Emperor [[Minh Mạng]] (r. 1820–1841) of Vietnam.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=277}}

==== Rise and expansion under Minh Mạng ====
[[File:Maps of Vietnam during the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng (1820-1841).png|thumb|224x224px|Đại Nam (Nguyễn dynasty) under the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng.]]
[[Minh Mạng]] was the younger brother of prince [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]] and fourth son of Emperor Gia Long. Educated in Confucian principles from youth,{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|p=24}} Minh Mạng became the Emperor of Vietnam in 1820, during a deadly [[1817–1824 cholera pandemic|cholera]] [[outbreak]] that ravaged and killed 200,000 people across the country.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=37}} His reign mainly focused on centralizing and stabilizing the state, by abolishing the Viceroy system and implementing a new full bureaucracy-provincial-based administration.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=418}} He also halted diplomacy with Europe, and cracked down on religious minorities.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=45}}

Minh Mạng shunned relations with the European powers. By 1824, after the death of [[Jean Marie Despiau]], no Western advisors who had served Gia Long remained in Minh Mạng's court. The last French consul of Vietnam, Eugene Chaigneau, was never able to obtain audience with Minh Mạng. After he left, France ceased attempts at contact.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=4}} In the next year he launched an anti-[[Catholicism]] propaganda campaign, denouncing the religion as "vicious" and full of "false teaching." In 1832 Minh Mạng turned the [[Champa|Cham]] [[Principality of Thuận Thành]] into a Vietnamese province, the final conquest in a long history of [[History of the Cham–Vietnamese wars|colonial conflict between Cham and Vietnam]].{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=279}} He coercively fed lizard and pig meat to Cham Muslims and cow meat to Cham Hindus in violation of their religions to forcibly assimilate them to Vietnamese culture.{{sfnp|Choi|2004a|p=141}} The first Cham revolt for independence took place in 1833–1834 when [[Katip Sumat]], a Cham mullah who had just returned to Vietnam from [[Mecca]] declared a holy war ([[jihad]]) against the Vietnamese emperor.<ref name="Hubert2012">{{cite book |author=Jean-François Hubert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oMqrqSp1W4C&pg=PA25 |title=The Art of Champa |date=2012 |publisher=Parkstone International |isbn=978-1-78042-964-9 |pages=25–}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Raja Praong Ritual: A Memory of the Sea in Cham–Malay Relations |url=https://chamstudies.wordpress.com/2015/10/20/the-raja-praong-ritual-a-memory-of-the-sea-in-cham-malay-relations/ |website=Cham Studies |date=20 October 2015}}</ref><ref>(Extracted from Truong Van Mon, "The Raja Praong Ritual: a Memory of the Sea in Cham–Malay Relations", in Memory And Knowledge Of The Sea In South Asia, Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, Monograph Series 3, pp. 97–111. International Seminar on Maritime Culture and Geopolitics & Workshop on Bajau Laut Music and Dance, Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, 23–24/2008)</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dharma |first1=Po |title=The Uprisings of Katip Sumat and Ja Thak Wa (1833–1835) |url=http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/78-the-uprisings-of-katip-sumat-and-ja-thak-wa-1833-1835 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626122653/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/78-the-uprisings-of-katip-sumat-and-ja-thak-wa-1833-1835 |archive-date=26 June 2015 |access-date=25 June 2015 |website=Cham Today}}</ref> The rebellion failed to gain the support of the Cham elite and was quickly suppressed by the Vietnamese military.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=419}} A second revolt began the following year, led by a Muslim clergy named [[Ja Thak Wa uprising|Ja Thak]] with support from the old Cham royalty, highland people, and Vietnamese dissents. Minh Mạng mercilessly crushed the Ja Thak rebellion and executed the last Cham ruler [[Po Phaok The]] in early 1835.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=420}}

In 1833, as Minh Mạng had been trying to take firm control over the six southern provinces, a large [[Lê Văn Khôi revolt|rebellion]] led by [[Lê Văn Khôi]] (an adopted son of the Saigon viceroy [[Lê Văn Duyệt]]) broke out in [[Saigon]], attempting to place Minh Mang's brother [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh|Prince Cảnh]] on the throne.{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|p=30}} The rebellion lasted for two years, gathering much support from Vietnamese Catholics, Khmers, Chinese merchants in Saigon, and even the Siamese ruler [[Rama III]] until it was crushed by the government forces in 1835.{{sfnp|Li|2004a|p=12}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=57}}{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=279}} In January, he issued the first country-wide prohibition of Catholicism, and began persecuting Christians.{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|p=31}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=56}} 130 Christian missionaries, priests and church leaders were executed, dozens of churches were burned and destroyed.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=277}}

[[File:Matyrdom of Saint Pierre Borie 1838 Vietnam.jpg|160px|thumb|Execution of French missionary [[Pierre Borie]], 1838.]]

==== War with Siam and invasion of Cambodia ====
{{Main|Siamese–Vietnamese wars}}

Minh Mạng also expanded his empire westward, putting central and southern Laos under Cam Lộ Province, and collided with his father's former ally – [[Siam]], in Vientiane and Cambodia.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=283}}{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=249}} He backed the revolt of Laotian king [[Anouvong]] of [[Kingdom of Vientiane|Vientiane]] against the Siamese, and seized [[Xam Neua]] and [[Savannakhet Province|Savannakhet]] in 1827.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=249}}

In 1834, the Vietnamese Crown fully annexed Cambodia and renamed it to [[Tây Thành Province]]. Minh Mạng placed the general [[Truong Minh Giang|Trương Minh Giảng]] as the governor of the Cambodian province, expanding his forcible religious assimilation to the new territory. King [[Ang Chan II]] of Cambodia died in the next year and Ming Mang installed Chan's daughter [[Ang Mey]] as Commandery Princess of Cambodia.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=285}} Cambodian officials were required to wear Vietnamese-style clothing, and govern in Vietnamese style.{{sfnp|Chandler|2018|pp=152–153}} However the Vietnamese rule over Cambodia did not last long and proved draining to Vietnam's economy to maintain.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=286}} Minh Mạng died in 1841, while a Khmer uprising was in progress with Siamese support, putting an end to the [[Tây Thành province]] and Vietnamese control of Cambodia.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|pp=283–288}}{{sfnp|Chandler|2018|pp=159–163}}

==== Decline of the Nguyễn dynasty ====
Over the next forty years, Vietnam was ruled by two further independent emperors [[Thieu Tri|Thiệu Trị]] (r. 1841–1847) and [[Tu Duc|Tự Đức]] (r. 1848–1883). Thiệu Trị or Prince Miên Tông, was the eldest son of Emperor Minh Mạng. His six-year reign showed a significant decrease in Catholic persecution. With the population growing fast from 6 million in the 1820s to 10&nbsp;million in 1850,{{sfnp|Heath|2003|p=175}} the attempts at agricultural self sufficiency were proving unworkable. Between 1802 and 1862, the court had faced 405 minor and large revolts of peasants, political dissents, ethnic minorities, Lê loyalists (people that were loyal to the old Lê Duy dynasty) across the country,{{sfnp|Heath|2003|p=163}} this made responding to the challenge of European colonisers significantly more challenging.

In 1845, the American warship [[USS Constitution]] landed in [[Da Nang|''Đà Nẵng'']], taking all local officials hostage with the demands that Thiệu Trị free imprisoned French bishop [[Dominique Lefèbvre]].{{sfnp|Miller|1990|pp=42–44}}{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=47}}{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=433}} In 1847, Thiệu Trị had made peace with Siam, but the imprisonment of Dominique Lefebvre offered an excuse for French and British aggression. In April the French navy [[Bombardment of Tourane (1847)|attacked]] the Vietnamese and sank many Vietnamese ships in Đà Nẵng, demanding the release of Lefèbvre.{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|p=35}}{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=434}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=59}} Angered by the incident, Thiệu Trị ordered all European documents in his palace to be smashed, and all European caught on Vietnamese land were to immediate execution.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=290}} In autumn, two British warships of [[John Francis Davis|Sir John Davis]] arrived in Đà Nẵng and attempted to force a commercial treaty on Vietnam, but the emperor refused. He died a few days later of apoplexy.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=435}}

[[Tu Duc|Tự Đức]], or Prince Hồng Nhậm was Thiệu Trị's youngest son, well-educated in Confucian learning, he was crowned by minister and co-regent Trương Đăng Quế. Prince [[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Bảo|Hồng Bảo]]-the elder brother of Tự Đức, the primogeniture heir rebelled against Tự Đức on the day of his accession.{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|p=39}} This coup failed but he was spared execution on the intervention of [[Từ Dụ]], with his sentence being reduced to life imprisonment.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|pp=436–437}} Aware of the rise of Western influences in Asia, Tự Đức confirmed his grandfathers isolationist policy towards the European powers, prohibiting embassies, forbidding trade and contact with foreigners and renewing [[Tự Đức's Catholic Persecution|the persecution]] of Catholics his grandfather had orchestrated.{{sfnp|McLeod|1991|pp=38–39}} During Tự Đức's first twelve years, Vietnamese Catholics faced harsh persecution with 27 European missionaries, 300 Vietnamese priests and bishops, and 30,000 Vietnamese Christians executed and crucified from 1848 to 1860.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=290}}

In the late 1840s, another [[1846–1860 cholera pandemic|cholera outbreak]] hit Vietnam, having travelled from India. The epidemic quickly spread out of control and killed 800,000 people (8–10% of Vietnam's 1847 population) across the Empire.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=60}} Locusts plagued northern Vietnam in 1854, and a major rebellion in the following year damaged much of the Tonkin countryside. These various crises weakened the empire's control over Tonkin considerably.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=290}}

In the 1850–70s, a new class of liberal intellectuals emerged in the court as persecution relaxed, many of them Catholics who had studied abroad in Europe, most notably [[Nguyễn Trường Tộ]], who urged the emperor to reform and transform the Empire following the Western model and open Vietnam to the west.{{sfnp|Keith|2012|p=47}} Despite their efforts the conservative Confucian bureaucrats and Tự Đức himself had a literal interest in such reforms.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=305}}{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=87}} The economy remained largely agricultural, with 95% of the population living in rural areas, only mining offered potential to the modernist's dreams of a western-style state.

==== French conquest ====
{{further|French conquest of Vietnam |Cochinchina campaign}}
[[File:French capture of Saigon in 1859.jpg|thumb|left|The Alliance (France-Spain) army capture of [[Citadel of Saigon]] in 1859.]]
[[File:Treaty of Saigon 1862.jpg|thumb|left|[[Treaty of Saigon (1862)]].]]

In September 1858, Napoleon III orchestrated a Franco-[[Spanish Armed Forces|Spanish army]] bombardment and invaded [[Da Nang|Đà Nẵng]] to protest against the executions of two Spanish Dominican missionaries. Seven months later, they sailed to the south to attack Saigon and the rich Mekong Delta.{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=169}} The Alliance troops held Saigon for two years, while a rebellion of Lê loyalists led by Catholic bishop Pedro [[Tạ Văn Phụng]], who proclaimed himself to be a Lê prince, broke out in the north and escalated.{{sfnp|Keith|2012|p=49}}{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|p=50}} Alongside the pretext of avenging the death of the missionaries the French invasion was designed to prove to Europe that France wasn't a second-rate power, and 'civilize' the area. In February 1861, French reinforcement and 70 warships led by General Vassoigne arrived and overwhelmed the Vietnamese strongholds. Facing the Alliance invasion and internal rebellion, Tự Đức chose to cede three Southern provinces to France to deal with the coinciding rebellion.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|pp=48–49}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=65}}

[[File:Phái đoàn nhà Nguyễn do Kinh lược sứ Nam kỳ Phan Thanh Giản sang thăm Pháp.jpg|thumb|right|Vietnamese delegation to [[Second French Empire|France]] in 20 September 1863 for peace treaty negotiation, 1st row from left to right: Ngụy Khác Đản,  [[Phan Thanh Giản]] Head of legation (middle) and Phạm Phú Thứ.]]
[[File:Phan-Thanh-Giản.jpg|thumb|right|Vietnamese mission to [[Napoleon III]]'s court at [[Tuileries Palace]] (1863).]]

In June 1862, the [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|Treaty of Saigon]] was signed, resulting in Vietnam losing three southern provinces; [[Gia Định province|Gia Định]], Mỹ Tho, Biên Hòa which became the basis of [[French Cochinchina]]. In the [[Treaty of Huế (1863)]] the island of Poulo Condoræ would allow Catholicism, three ports would be open to French trade, and the sea opened to allow French expansion into [[Kampuchea]]. and war reparations were required to be sent to France. Despite the religious elements of this treaty, France would not intervene in the Christian revolt in [[Bac Bo|Northern Vietnam]], even with their missionaries urging them to. To the Queen dowager, Từ Dụ, the court, and the people, the 1862 treaty was a national humiliation. Tự Đức once again sent a mission to the French Emperor [[Napoleon III]], in which he called to revise the 1862 treaty. In July 1864, another draft treaty was signed. France returned the three provinces to Vietnam, but still held control over three important cities Saigon, Mỹ Tho, and Thủ Dầu Một.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|pp=50–51}} In 1866, France convinced Tự Đức to hand over the southern provinces of Vĩnh Long, Hà Tiên, and Châu Đốc. [[Phan Thanh Gian|Phan Thanh Giản]], the governor of the three provinces immediately resigned. Without resistance, in 1867, the French annexed the provinces and turned their attention to the northern provinces.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=53}}
{{clear}}
<gallery>
File:Prise de Saigon 18 Fevrier 1859 Antoine Morel-Fatio.jpg|Capture of Saigon by [[Charles Rigault de Genouilly]] on 17 February 1859, painted by [[Antoine Morel-Fatio]].
File:L'Illustration 1862 gravure L'expédition de Cochinchine - prise et incendie de Bien-Hao le 18 décembre 1861.jpg|Bombardment of [[Biên Hòa]] (16 December 1861).
File:French ships at Danang 1858.jpg|French warships [[Siege of Tourane]] ([[Da Nang|Đà Nẵng]]), September 1858.
File:Prise de Bac-Ninh.jpg|Capture of [[Bac Ninh|Bắc Ninh]] during the [[Tonkin campaign]].
File:Capture ninh binh.jpg|The capture of [[Ninh Bình]] by Aspirant Hautefeuille and his sailors
File:Capture of Hai Duong 1873.jpg|French attack on the citadel of [[Hải Dương]].
File:Taking-of-bac-ninh.jpg|Turcos and fusiliers-marins at Bắc Ninh, 12 March 1884
File:French artillery at Gia Cuc.jpeg|A French naval gun, deployed on a dyke, supports a marine infantry attack on the Vietnamese positions at Gia Cuc (Gia Quất)
File:Warships at Thuan An.jpg|French warships deployed off the Thuận An forts, 18 August 1883
File:Attack on the Thuan An forts.jpg|The attack on the Thuận An forts, 20 August 1883
File:Prise de Son Tay.jpg|The capture of [[Sơn Tây]], 16 December 1883
File:Combat of Nam Dinh 19 July 1883.jpg|Capture of [[Nam Định]], 19 July 1883.
File:CaptureNamDinh.jpg|French troops attack [[Nam Định]] fortress.
File:Hunghoa.jpg|[[Capture of Hưng Hóa]]
</gallery>

By the late 1860s, pirates, bandits, and remnants of the Taiping rebellion in China, fled to Tonkin and turned Northern Vietnam into a hotbed for their raid activities. The Vietnamese state was too weak to fight against the pirates.{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=174}} These Chinese rebels eventually formed their own mercenary armies as the [[Black Flag Army|Black Flags]] had done and cooperated with local Vietnamese officials to interfere with French business interests. As France was looking to acquire Yunnan and Tonkin, when in 1873, a French merchant-adventurer named [[Jean Dupuis]] was intercepted by local Hanoi authority, the [[French Cochinchina]] government responded by sending out a new attack without talking with the Hue court.{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|pp=63–64}} A French army led by [[Francis Garnier]] arrived at Tonkin in November. Because local administrators had allied with the Black Flags and mistrusted of Hanoi governor [[Nguyen Tri Phuong|Nguyễn Tri Phương]], in late November the French and Lê loyalists opened fire at the Vietnamese citadel of Hanoi. Tự Đức immediately sent delegations to negotiate with Garnier, but Prince [[Hoàng Kế Viêm]], governor of [[Sơn Tây]], had enlisted the Chinese Black Flags militia of [[Liu Yongfu]] to attack the French.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=66}} Garnier was killed on 21 December by the Black Flag soldiers at the {{ill|Battle of Cầu Giấy (1873)|vi|Trận Cầu Giấy (1873)|lt=Battle of Cầu Giấy}}.{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=179}} A peace negotiation between Vietnam and France was reached on 5 January 1874.{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=180}} France formally recognized Vietnam's full independence from China; France would pay off Vietnam's Spanish debts; French force returned Hanoi to the Vietnamese; the Vietnamese military in Hanoi had to disband and be reduced to a simple police force; total religious and trade freedom was ensured; Vietnam was compelled to recognise all six southern provinces as French territories.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|pp=55–61}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=67}}

==== End of independence (1874–1885) ====
[[File:Capture of Thuan An Forts.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Thuận An|French victory]] at [[Thuận An, Huế|Thuận An fortress]], August 1883.]]

Just two years after French recognition, Tự Đức sent an embassy to Qing China in 1876 and re-provoked the tributary relationship with the Chinese (the last mission was in 1849). In 1878, Vietnam renewed relations with Thailand.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=61}} In 1880, Britain, Germany, and Spain were still debating the fate of Vietnam, and the Chinese Embassy in Paris openly rejected the 1874 Franco-Vietnamese agreement. In Paris, Prime Minister [[Jules Ferry]] proposed a direct military campaign against Vietnam to revise the 1874 treaty. Because Tự Đức was too preoccupied to keep the French out of his Empire without directly engaging against them, he requested assistance from the Chinese court. In 1882, 30,000 Qing troops flooded into the northern provinces and occupied cities. The Black Flags had also been returning, together, collaborating with local Vietnamese officials and harassing French businesses. In March, the French responded by sending a second expedition led by [[Henri Rivière (naval officer)|Henri Rivière]] to the north to deal with these various problems but had to avoid all international attention, particularly from China.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=63}} On 25 April 1882, Rivière took Hanoi without facing any resistance.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=65}}{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|p=90}} Tự Đức informed the Chinese court that their tributary state was being attacked. In September 1882, 17 Chinese divisions (200,000 men) crossed the Sino-Vietnamese borders and occupied [[Lạng Sơn]], Cao Bằng, Bac Ninh, and Thái Nguyên, under the pretext of defending against the French aggression.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=66}}
<gallery>
File:1885 chromolithograph celebrating the French conquest in Indochina.jpg|Admiral [[Amédée Courbet]] and Harmand at Huế, August 1883
File:Signature of 1883 Treaty of Hue.jpg|Signing of the Treaty of Huế, 25 August 1883
File:Thống-Chế đã nói - Đại-Pháp khắng khít với thái bình, như dân quê với đất ruộng.jpg|French propaganda painting in Hanoi, 1942
</gallery>
Backed by the Chinese army and prince Hoàng Kế Viêm, Liu Yongfu, and the Black Flags decided to attack Rivière. On 19 May 1883, the Black Flags ambushed and beheaded Rivière at the [[Battle of Cầu Giấy (1883)|Second Battle of Cầu Giấy]].{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|p=102}} When news of Rivière's death reached France, there was immediate outcry and demands for a response. The French Parliament quickly voted for the conquest of Vietnam. Tens of thousands of French and Chinese reinforcements poured into the [[Red River Delta]].{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=191}}

Tự Đức died on 17 July.{{sfnp|Amirell|2019|p=194}} Succession trouble temporarily paralyzed the court. One of his nephews [[Dục Đức|Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Ái]] was crowned as Emperor Dục Đức but was, however, imprisoned and executed after three days by the three powerful regents [[Nguyễn Văn Tường]], [[Tôn Thất Thuyết]] and Tran Tien Thanh for unknown reasons. Tự Đức's brother [[Hiệp Hòa|Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Dật]] succeeded on 30 July as Emperor Hiệp Hòa.{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|p=106}} The senior Censorate official of the court [[Phan Đình Phùng]] denounced the three regents for their irregular handling of Tự Đức's succession. Tôn Thất Thuyết excoriated Phan Đình Phùng and sent him from the court to his home territory, where later he led a nationalist resistance movement against the French for ten years.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=474}}

To knock Vietnam out of the war, France decided to take a direct assault on the city of Huế. The French army split up itself into two parts: the smaller under General [[Alexandre-Eugène Bouët|Bouët]] stayed in Hanoi and waited for reinforcement from France while the French fleet led by [[Amédée Courbet]] and Jules Harmand sailed to [[Thuận An]], the sea gate of Hue on 17 August. Harmand demanded the two regents Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết surrender Northern Vietnam, North-Central Vietnam ([[Thanh Hoá]], [[Nghệ An]], [[Hà Tĩnh]]) and [[Bình Thuận Province]] to French possession, and to accept a French résident in Huế who could demand imperial audiences. He sent an ultimatum to the regents that "The name Vietnam will no longer exist in history" if they did not comply with this.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|pp=69–70}}{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=319}}

On 18 August, French battleships began shelling Vietnamese positions in the Thuận An citadel. Two days later, at dawn, Courbet and the French marines landed on the shore. By the next morning, all Vietnamese defenses in Huế were overwhelmed by the French. Emperor Hiệp Hòa dispatched mandarin Nguyễn Thượng Bắc to negotiate.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=67}}

On 25 September, two court officials, Trần Đình Túc and Nguyễn Trọng Hợp signed a twenty-seven-article treaty known as [[Treaty of Huế (1883)|Harmand Convention]].{{sfnp|Bradley|2016|p=107}} The French were granted Bình Thuận; Đà Nẵng and Qui Nhơn were opened for trade; the ruling sphere of the Vietnamese monarchy was reduced to Central Vietnam while Northern Vietnam became a French Protectorate. In November, Emperor Hiệp Hòa and Trần Tiễn Thành were executed by Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết for their perceived pro-French sympathies. 14-year-old Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng was crowned as Emperor [[Kiến Phúc]]. After achieving peace with China through the [[Tientsin Accord]] in May 1884, on 6 June the French Ambassador in China [[Jules Patenôtre des Noyers]] signed with Nguyen Van Tuong the Protectorate [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|Treaty of Patenôtre]], which confirmed French dominion over Vietnam.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|p=475}}{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=70}} On 31 May 1885, France appointed the first governor of all Vietnam.{{sfnp|Chapuis|2000|p=71}} On 9 June 1885, Vietnam ceased to exist after 83 years as an independent state.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=71}} The leader of the pro-war faction, Tôn Thất Thuyết and his supporters revolted against the French in July 1885, but were forced to retreat to the Laotian highlands with the young emperor [[Hàm Nghi]] (Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch.) Meanwhile the French installed his pro-French brother Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ as emperor [[Đồng Khánh]].{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=91}} Thuyết called up the nobility, loyalists and nationalists to arm for the resistance against the French occupation ([[Cần Vương movement]]).{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=90}} The movement lasted for 11 years (1885–1896) and Thuyết was forced to exile in China in 1888.{{sfnp|Goscha|2016|p=93}}

=== French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin (1883–1945) ===
{{main|Annam (French protectorate)|Tonkin (French protectorate)|French Indochina}}

The [[Treaty of Huế (1883)|1883 Treaty of Huế]] led to the rest of Vietnam becoming French protectorates, divided into the [[Annam (French protectorate)|Protectorates of Annam]] and [[Tonkin (French protectorate)|Tonkin]]. The terms were, however, considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles and never ratified in France. The following [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|1884 Treaty of Huế]] provided a softened version of the previous treaty.<ref name="The conquest of Vietnam by France">{{cite encyclopedia |title=The conquest of Vietnam by France |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam/The-conquest-of-Vietnam-by-France |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=17 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417215049/https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam/The-conquest-of-Vietnam-by-France |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Treaty of Tientsin (1885)|1885 Treaty of Tientsin]], which reaffirmed the 1884 [[Tientsin Accord]] and ended the [[Sino-French War]], confirmed Vietnam's status as French protectorates and severed Vietnam's tributary relationship with the Qing dynasty by requiring that all of Vietnam's foreign affairs be conducted through France.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eastman |first=Lloyd E. |title=Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |year=1967 |pages=200–201}}</ref>

After this the Nguyễn dynasty only nominally ruled the two French protectorates. Annam and Tonkin were combined with Cochinchina and the neighboring [[French protectorate of Cambodia|Cambodian protectorate]] in 1887 to form the Union of [[French Indochina]], of which they became administrative components.<ref name="The conquest of Vietnam by France"/>

French rule also reinforced ingredients that the Portuguese had already added to Vietnam's cultural stew: Catholicism and a [[Latin alphabet|Latin-based]] [[Vietnamese alphabet|alphabet]]. The spelling used in the Vietnamese transliteration is in fact Portuguese-based, because the French relied on a dictionary compiled earlier by a Portuguese cleric, [[Francisco de Pina]].<ref name="The conquest of Vietnam by France"/> Due to their presence in [[Macau]], the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] were also the ones who brought [[Catholic Church in Vietnam|Catholicism]] to Vietnam in the XVI Century, although it was the French who built most of the churches and established missions in the country.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zeller |first=João van |title=Vietname em 2015: os portugueses reemergem, 500 anos depois |url=https://observador.pt/2015/04/07/vietname-em-2015-os-portugueses-reemergem-500-anos-depois/ |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=Observador |language=pt-PT |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031222619/https://observador.pt/2015/04/07/vietname-em-2015-os-portugueses-reemergem-500-anos-depois/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=4 May 2020 |title=O jesuíta beirão a quem o Vietname deve o alfabeto |url=https://www.dn.pt/1864/o-jesuita-beirao-a-quem-o-vietname-deve-o-alfabeto--12143007.html |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.dn.pt |language=pt-PT |archive-date=31 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031222621/https://www.dn.pt/1864/o-jesuita-beirao-a-quem-o-vietname-deve-o-alfabeto--12143007.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== World War I ====
{{Main|History of Vietnam during World War I}}
While seeking to maximize the use of Indochina's natural resources and manpower to fight World War I, France cracked down on Vietnam's patriotic mass movements. Indochina (mainly Vietnam) had to provide France with 70,000 soldiers and 70,000 workers, who were forcibly drafted from villages to serve on the French battlefront. Vietnam also contributed 184 million [[French Indochinese piastre|piastres]] in loans and 336,000 tons of food.

These burdens proved heavy since agriculture experienced natural disasters from 1914 to 1917. Lacking a unified nationwide organization, the vigorous Vietnamese national movement failed to use the difficulties France had as a result of the war to stage significant uprisings.

In May 1916, sixteen-year-old emperor [[Duy Tân]] escaped from his palace to participate in an uprising of Vietnamese troops. The French were informed of the plan, and its leaders were arrested and executed. Duy Tân was deposed and exiled to the island of [[Réunion]] in the Indian Ocean.  Nguyen Dong Xi had died of pneumonia.

==== World War II ====
{{Main|1940–1946 in French Indochina|French Indochina in World War II}}
Nationalist sentiment intensified in Vietnam (especially during and after the First World War), but uprisings and tentative efforts failed to obtain concessions from the French. The [[Russian Revolution]] greatly impacted 20th-century Vietnamese history.

For Vietnam, the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 was as decisive as the 1858 French seizure of Đà Nẵng. The [[Axis power]] of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] invaded Vietnam on 22 September 1940, attempting to construct military bases to strike against [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]] in Southeast Asia. This led to a period of Indochina under [[French Indochina in World War II|Japanese occupation]] with the cooperation of the [[Collaboration with Imperial Japan|collaborationist]] [[Vichy France|Vichy French]], who still retained the administration of the colony. During this time the [[Viet Minh]], a communist resistance movement, developed under [[Ho Chi Minh]] from 1941, with [[Allies of World War II|allied]] support. During 1944–1945 [[Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945|famine in northern Vietnam]], over one million people starved to death.

=== Empire of Vietnam (1945) ===
{{Main|Empire of Vietnam|Abdication of Bảo Đại}}
In March 1945, after the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic|liberation of France]] and heavy setbacks in the war, the Japanese in a last ditch effort to gather support in Indochina [[Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina|overthrew the French administration]], imprisoned their civil servants and proclaimed independence for [[Japanese occupation of Cambodia#Collaborationist Kingdom of Kampuchea|Cambodia]], [[French Protectorate of Laos#Japanese occupation of Laos|Laos]] and Vietnam, which became the [[Empire of Vietnam]] with [[Bảo Đại]] as its Emperor.<ref name="Lebra">{{cite book |last=Lebra |first=Joyce C. |title=Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in World War II: Selected Readings and Documents |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1975 |pages=157–158, 160}}</ref><ref name="Li-Reid">{{cite book |first1=Tana |last1=Li |first2=Anthony |last2=Reid |title=Southern Vietnam under the Nguyễn |publisher=Australian National University |series=Economic History of Southeast Asia Project |year=1993 |isbn=981-3016-69-8 }}</ref> The Empire of Vietnam was a [[puppet state]] of the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref name="Lebra"/> After the [[Surrender of Japan]], Bảo Đại abdicated on 25 August 1945 after the Viet Minh launched the [[August Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Stanley |last=Karnow |author-link=Stanley Karnow |title=Vietnam: A History |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=1997 |page=162}}</ref>

This ended the 143-year reign of the Nguyễn dynasty. Bảo Đại was later restored to power by the French to become emperor of the [[State of Vietnam]] in 1949 until the country became a [[South Vietnam|republic]] in 1955, however this period is not considered part of the Nguyễn Dynasty.<ref name="pent5">{{cite web|archive-date=2011-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806004651/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |access-date=2011-07-23 |title=The Pentagon Papers, Chapter 2, "U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War, 1950-1954", U.S. POLICY AND THE BAO DAI REGIME |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent5.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>

== National administration ==
=== Government ===
{{Main|Government of the Nguyễn dynasty}}

==== Emperor ====
{{Main|House of Nguyễn Phúc}}
<gallery>
file:Con dấu.jpg|Imperial seal, decorated with a dragon, and its imprint against a red background.
file:Imperial headgear Nguyen era NMVH EDAV.jpg|Nine-dragon Imperial Crown (Cửu Long thông thiên quan, 九龍通天冠) influenced by Chinese [[Futou#Derivatives and influences|Yishan guan (翼善冠)]].
File:Nguyen Dynasty, 19th-20th Century Swords and Rifles (9735530409).jpg| Imperial sword and hunting rifle of emperor Minh Mang.
File:HoangVietLoatLe first page.jpg|''Hoàng Việt luật lệ'' (皇越律例), Code of law introduced by Gia Long.
File:Emperor'scostume.jpg|Court dress of Emperor.
</gallery>

{{Wide image|File:Sa Majesté Bao-Daï fit le pèlerinage aux Tombeaux des ancêtres de la Dynastie à Thanh-Hóa, 1932.jpg|1000px|align-cap=center|The visit of Bảo Đại to the ancestral tombs of the [[Nguyễn lords]] in [[Thanh Hóa]], 4 November 1932.}}

The Nguyễn dynasty retained the bureaucratic and hierarchic system of previous dynasties. The emperor was the head of state who wielded absolute authority. Under the emperor was the Ministry of Interior (which worked on papers, imperial messages and recording) and four Grand Secretariats ({{langx|vi|Tứ trụ Đại thần}}), later renamed the Ministry of Secret Council.<ref>''Vietnam Law & Legal Forum'' Vol. 3, Issues 25–36. p. 233. 1996 "In 1834 the 'Vien Co Mat' (secret affairs institute) was set up for the first time in the feudal history of Vietnam, comprising four high-ranking mandarins. This was the key agency in the royal court, just besides the king, which was entitled to ..."</ref><ref>''The Vietnamese Response to French Intervention, 1862–1874'', p. 55 Mark W. McLeod – 1991 "... Minister of Public Office (Thuong thu Bo Lai) as well as his membership in the emperor's Privy Council (Co mat vien)"</ref><ref>''The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and ...'', p. 757 Spencer C. Tucker – 2011 "At the capital of Hue, Minh Mang established the Noi Cac Vien (Grand Secretariat) and the Co Mat Vien (Privy Council). The rest of the bureaucracy was also re-organized with the creation of a nine-rank Mandarin corps. It was also under Minh</ref>

The Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty was an [[Absolute monarchy|absolutist ruler]], which means he was both the [[head of state]] and the [[head of government]].{{sfnp|Keane|1896|p=295}} The Gia Long Code in 1812 declared the Vietnamese monarch as the universal ruler of all Vietnam; using the Confucian concept[[Mandate of Heaven]] to provide monarchs absolute power. Their reign and popular images were judged based on how prosperous the livelihood (民生, ''dân sinh'') of the people and the Confucian concept of ''chính danh'' (rectification of names), where according to the Confucian biblical [[Analects]], everything has to stay in its right order.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=9}}{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=14}} Gia Long also perceived the ancient Chinese conception of [[Hua–Yi distinction|Hua-Yi]] and in 1805 he confessed his Empire as ''Trung Quốc'' (中國, "the [[Middle Kingdom (disambiguation)|Middle Kingdom]]"), the Vietnamese term which often refers to China but now was taken by Gia Long to emphasis his Son of Heaven status and the devaluation of China.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=18}}{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=19}} Following next decades, Confucianism and the Mandate of Heaven theory gradually lost their positions among the Vietnamese officials and intellectuals. When the fourth emperor, Tự Đức, ceded Southern Vietnam to France and called all Southern officials to give up arms, many ignored, disobeyed the Son of Heaven and continued to fight against invaders. Many dissents viewed him as surrendering and frightened of France. Rebellions against Tự Đức erupted every year from 1860 until he died in 1883.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=303}}

A dual theory of sovereignty existed in Vietnam. All the Nguyễn monarchs were addressed as ''hoàng đế'' (黃帝, Sino-Vietnamese title for "Emperor") in the court while referring himself the first person honorific ''trẫm'' (he who give the order). They also used the concept of ''thiên tử'' (天子, "[[Son of Heaven]]", which is borrowed from China) to demonstrate that the ruler was descended and commissioned by heaven to rule the kingdom.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=9}} However, in most cases, Nguyen rulers were formally called ''vua'' (𪼀, the [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] title for "monarch" or " sovereign ruler") by the ordinary Vietnamese folks.<ref name="Alexander-Barton" >Alexander Barton Woodside: ''Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century'', [[Harvard University Asia Center]], [[Harvard University Press]], [[Cambridge, MA]] 1988, S. 10</ref>{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=10}} The concept of a divine Son of Heaven has not been dogmatically practiced, and the monarch's divinity was not absolute due to the dual theory. For example, [[Xu Jiyu]], a Chinese geographer, reported that the bureaucrats in the Vietnamese court sat down and even felt free to search themselves for body lice during the court audiences. Gia Long once told the son of J.B. Chaigneau, one of his advisors, that the use of Son of Heaven in Vietnam was an "absurdity" and "at least in mixed Vietnamese–European Company."{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=10}} Once the young crown prince is chosen to succeed, his obligation is to be filial with parents, be well-educated in politics and classics, and internalize the morals and ethics of a ruler.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=11}}

After the 1884 Treaty of Huế was signed, the Nguyễn dynasty became two protectorates of France and the French installed their own administrators.<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng">Trần Gia Phụng. ''Trung Kỳ Dân biến 1908''. Toronto, Canada, 2008. pp.  35–40.</ref> Although the Emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty were still nominally in control of the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, the [[Resident-Superior of Annam]] gradually gained more influence over the imperial court in [[Huế]].<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/> In 1897 the Resident-Superior was granted the power to appoint the Nguyễn dynasty Emperors and presided over the meetings of the [[Viện cơ mật]].<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/> These moves incorporated French officials directly into the administrative structure of the Imperial Huế Court and further legitimized French rule in the legislative branch of the Nguyễn government.<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/> From this period onwards any imperial edicts issued by the Emperors of Đại Nam had to be confirmed by the Resident-Superior of Annam giving him both legislative and executive power over the Nguyễn government.<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/>

In the year 1898, the federal government of [[French Indochina]] took over the financial and property management duties of the Nguyễn dynasty's imperial court meaning that the Nguyễn dynasty Emperor (at the time [[Thành Thái]]) became a salaried employee of the Indochinese colonial structure, reducing their power to being only a civil servant of the Protectorate government.<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/> The Resident-Superior of Annam also took over the management of provincial [[Mandarin (bureaucrat)|mandarins]] and was a member of the Supreme Council (''Conseil supérieur'') of the Government-General of French Indochina.<ref name="Trần-Gia-Phụng"/>

==== {{anchor|Civil service and bureaucrat system}}Civil service and bureaucracy ====
<gallery>
File:TranhtrieuNguyen-19.jpg|The imperial guards of the Nguyễn dynasty.
File:Thai-giam.jpg|The eunuchs of the Nguyễn dynasty.
File:Áo tấc bát bảo mãng bào.jpeg|Imperial family member (left) in the traditional Áo tấc and mandarin (right) in the imperial court dress.
File:Vietmandarins.jpg|Mandarin conducted ceremony in front of [[Imperial City of Huế|Imperial palace]] in 1939.
</gallery>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Rank !! Civil position !! Military position!! colspan="4" |Pictures
|-
| Upper first rank (''Bậc trên nhất phẩm'') || [[Imperial Clan Court]] (''Tông Nhân Phủ'', ''Tôn nhân lệnh'')<br /> [[Three Ducal Ministers]] (''Tam công''):<br /> * Grand Preceptor (''Thái sư'') <br />* Grand Tutor (''Thái phó'')<br /> * Grand Protector (''Thái bảo'') || Same || [[File:Costume of imperial member.jpg|thumb|Dress code of imperial members (Hoàng Thân,皇親), [[Esplanade of Sacrifice to the Heaven and Earth|Nam Giao]] ceremonial dress (left) and court dress (right).]]
|-
| First senior rank (''Chánh nhất phẩm,正一品'') || Left Right Imperial Clan Court (''Tôn nhân phủ'', ''Tả Hữu tôn chính"'')<br /> Three Vice-Ducal Ministers (''Tam Thiếu'')<br />* Vice Preceptor (''Thiếu sư'')<br />* Vice Tutor (''Thiếu phó'')<br />* Vice Protector (''Thiếu bảo'')|| Same || [[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-4.jpg|thumb|108x108px|Dress code of first senior rank of civil mandarins.]] 
|-
| First junior rank (''Tòng nhất phẩm.從一品'') || [[Vietnamese Council of State|Council of State]] (''Tham chính viện'')<br /> [[House of Councillors]] (''Tham Nghị viện'')<br /> [[Grand Secretariat]] (''Thị trung Đại học sĩ'')|| Banner Unit Lieutenant General, General-in-Chief, Provincial Commander-in-Chief|| [[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-12.jpg|thumb|108x108px|Dress code of first senior (left) and junior (right) rank of military mandarins.]]
|-
| Second senior rank (''Chánh nhị phẩm,正二品'') || [[Three Departments and Six Ministries|6 ministries]] (''Lục bộ''):<br />* [[Ministry of Personnel]] (''Lại Bộ '') <br />* [[Ministry of Rites]] (''Lễ Bộ '')<br />* [[Ministry of Justice (imperial China)]] (''Hình Bộ '')<br />* [[Ministry of Revenue (imperial China)|Ministry of Finance]] (''Hộ Bộ '')<br />* [[Ministry of Works (imperial China)|Ministry of Public Works]] (''Công Bộ '')<br />* [[Ministry of War (imperial China)|Ministry of Defense]] (''Binh Bộ '')<br /> Supreme [[Censorate]] (''Đô sát viện'', ''Tả Hữu Đô ngự sử'') || Banner Captain General, Commandants of Divisions, Brigade General || 
|-
| Second junior rank (''Tòng nhị phẩm,從二品'')|| 6 Ministerial Advisors (''Lục bộ Tả Hữu Tham tri'')<br />Grand coordinator and provincial governor (''Tuần phủ'')<br />Supreme Vice-[[Censorate]] (''Đô sát viện'', ''Tả Hữu Phó đô ngự sử'')|| Major General, Colonel||[[File:6a00d8341c464853ef0224e03c6f5b200d-580wi.jpg|thumb|Dress code of second senior (left) & junior (right) rank of military mandarins.]]
|-
| Third senior rank (''Chánh tam phẩm,正三品'') || Senior Head of 6 Ministries (''Chánh thiêm sự'')<br /> Administration Commissioner (''Cai bạ'')<br />Surveillance Commissioner (''Ký lục'')<br />State Auxiliary Academician of [[Secretariat (administrative office)|Secretariat]] (''Thị trung Trực học sĩ'')<br /> Court Auxiliary Academician (''Trực học sĩ các điện'')<br />Court academician (''Học sĩ các điện'')<br />Provincial governor (''Hiệp trấn các trấn'')|| Brigadiers of Artillery & Musketry, Brigadier of Scouts, Banner Division Colonel || [[File:1851-11-tam-phm.jpg|thumb|Third senior (left) and junior (right) rank of military mandarin]]
|-
| Third junior rank (''Tòng tam phẩm,從三品'') ||Junior Head of Six Ministries (''Thiếu thiêm sự'')<br />Senior Palace Administration Commissioner (''Cai bạ Chính dinh'')<br />[[Chargé d'affaires]] (''Tham tán'')<br /> Court of Imperial Seals (''Thượng bảo tự'')<br />General Staff (''Tham quân'') || Banner Brigade Commander||
|-
| Fourth senior rank (''Chánh tứ phẩm,正四品'') || Provincial Education Commissioner of [[Guozijian]] (''Quốc tử giám Đốc học'')<br />Head of six ministries (''Thiếu thiêm sự'')<br />Junior Court of Imperial Seals (''Thượng bảo thiếu Khanh'')<br />[[Grand Secretaries]] (''Đông các học sĩ'')<br />Administration Commissioner of Trường Thọ palace (''Cai bạ cung Trường Thọ'')<br />Provincial Advisor to Defense Command Lieutenant Governor (''Tham hiệp các trấn'') || Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery, Musketry & Scouts Captain, Police Major||
|-
| Fourth junior rank (''Tòng tứ phẩm,從四品'') || Provincial Vice Education Commissioner of Guozijian (''Quốc tử giám phó Đốc học''), Prefect (''Tuyên phủ sứ''), || Captain, Assistant Major in Princely Palaces||
|-
| Fifth senior rank (''Chánh ngũ phẩm,正五品'') || Inner Deputy Supervisors of Instruction at Hanlin Institutes, Sub-Prefects|| Police Captain, Lieutenant or First Lieutenant || [[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-14.jpg|thumb| Fifth senior (left) and junior (right) rank of civil mandarin.]]
|-
| Fifth junior rank (''Tòng ngũ phẩm,從五品'') || Assistant Instructors and Librarians at Imperial and Hanlin Institutes, Assistant Directors of Boards and Courts, Circuit Censors|| Gate Guard Lieutenants, Second Captain ||[[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-15.jpg|thumb| Fifth senior (left) and junior (right) rank of military mandarin.]]
|-
| Sixth senior rank (''Chánh lục phẩm,正六品'')|| Secretaries & Tutors at Imperial & Hanlin Institutes, Secretaries and Registrars at Imperial Offices, Police Magistrate || Bodyguards, Lieutenants of Artillery, Musketry & Scouts, Second Lieutenants||
|-
| Sixth junior rank (''Tòng lục phẩm,從六品'') || Assistant Secretaries in Imperial Offices and Law Secretaries, Provincial Deputy Sub-Prefects, Buddhist & Taoist priests|| Deputy Police Lieutenant||
|-
| Seventh senior rank (''Chánh thất phẩm,正七品'') || None || City Gate Clerk, Sub-Lieutenants || [[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-16.jpg|thumb| Seventh senior (left) and junior (right) rank of mandarin.]]
|-
| Seventh junior rank (''Tòng thất phẩm,從七品'') ||Secretaries in Offices of Assistant Governors, Salt Controllers & Transport Stations|| Assistant Major in Nobles' Palaces||
|-
| Eighth senior rank (''Chánh bát phẩm,正八品'') || None || Ensigns||
|-
| Eighth junior rank (''Tòng bát phẩm,從八品'') || Sub-director of Studies, Archivists in Office of Salt Controller|| First Class Sergeant||
|-
| Ninth senior rank (''Chánh cửu phẩm,正九品'') || None || Second Class Sergeant || [[File:TranhtrieuNguyen-18.jpg|thumb|Ninth senior rank (left) and junior rank mandarin (right)]]
|-
| Ninth junior rank (''Tòng cửu phẩm,從九品'') || Prefectural Tax Collector, Deputy Jail Warden, Deputy Police Commissioner, Tax Examiner|| Third Class Sergeant, Corporal, First & Second Class Privates || 

|}

=== {{anchor|Wage}}Taxes ===
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2018}}
[[File:Nguyễn Dynasty coinage.jpg|thumb|alt=Nine coins, with pictures of their respective emperors|Nguyễn dynasty coins]]
Vietnam's monetary subunit was the quan (貫). One quan equaled 10&nbsp;coins, equivalent to [[Vietnamese đồng|₫]]600. In 1839, Emperor Minh Mạng determined that officials received the following taxes ({{langx|vi|thuế đầu người}}):{{sfnb|Trần|2018|pp=437–438}}
* First senior rank (''Chánh nhất phẩm''): 400 quan; rice: 300&nbsp;kg; per-capita tax: 70&nbsp;quan
* First junior rank (''Tòng nhất phẩm''): 300 quan; rice: 250&nbsp;kg; tax: 60&nbsp;quan
* Second senior rank (''Chánh nhị phẩm''): 250 quan; rice: 200&nbsp;kg; tax: 50&nbsp;quan
* Second junior rank (''Tòng nhị phẩm''): 180 quan; rice: 150&nbsp;kg; tax: 30&nbsp;quan
* Third senior rank (''Chánh tam phẩm''): 150 quan; rice: 120&nbsp;kg; tax: 20&nbsp;quan
* Third junior rank (''Tòng tam phẩm''): 120 quan; rice: 90&nbsp;kg; tax: 16&nbsp;quan
* Fourth senior rank (''Chánh tứ phẩm''): 80 quan; rice: 60&nbsp;kg; tax: 14&nbsp;quan
* Fourth junior rank (''Tòng tứ phẩm''): 60 quan; rice: 50&nbsp;kg; tax: 10&nbsp;quan
* Fifth senior rank (''Chánh ngũ phẩm''): 40 quan; rice: 43&nbsp;kg; tax: 9&nbsp;quan
* Fifth junior rank (''Tòng ngũ phẩm''): 35 quan; rice: 30&nbsp;kg; tax: 8&nbsp;quan
* Sixth senior rank (''Chánh lục phẩm''): 30 quan; rice: 25&nbsp;kg; tax: 7&nbsp;quan
* Sixth junior rank (''Tòng lục phẩm''): 30 quan; rice: 22&nbsp;kg; tax: 6&nbsp;quan
* Seventh senior rank (''Chánh thất phẩm''): 25 quan; rice: 20&nbsp;kg; tax: 5&nbsp;quan
* Seventh junior rank (''Tòng thất phẩm''): 22 quan; rice: 20&nbsp;kg; tax: 5&nbsp;quan
* Eighth senior rank (''Chánh bát phẩm''): 20 quan; rice: 18&nbsp;kg; tax: 5&nbsp;quan
* Eighth junior rank (''Tòng bát phẩm''): 20 quan; rice: 18&nbsp;kg; tax: 4&nbsp;quan
* Ninth senior rank (''Chánh cửu phẩm''): 18 quan; rice: 16&nbsp;kg; tax: 4&nbsp;quan
* Ninth junior rank (''Tòng cửu phẩm''): 18 quan; rice: 16&nbsp;kg; tax: 4&nbsp;quan

Officials from the first to third ranks received taxes twice a year, while those from the fourth to seventh ranks received taxes at the end of the four seasons. The eighth and ninth-ranked officials did so every month in a year.{{sfnb|Trần|2018|p=438}} The Emperor also granted an annual "dưỡng liêm" money to prevent corruption among regional administrators.{{sfnb|Trần|2018|p=439}}

=== Political organization ===
{{further|Six Ministries of the Nguyễn dynasty}}
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Viencomat.jpg|Privy Council of Nguyễn Dynasty ([[Viện cơ mật|Cơ Mật Viện]]: 機密院).
File:Triều đình Huế - Bộ Lại (Ministère de l’Intérieur).jpg|alt=Ministry of Administration of Nguyễn Dynasty (Lại Bộ : 吏部).|Ministry of Administration of Nguyễn Dynasty (Lại Bộ : 吏部).
File:Triều đình Huế - Bộ Lễ (Ministère des Rites).jpg|Ministry of Rites of Nguyễn Dynasty (Lễ Bộ: 禮部).
File:Triều đình Huế - Bộ Hộ (Ministère des Finances).jpg|Ministry of Finance of Nguyễn Dynasty (Hộ Bộ: 戸部).
File:Triều đình Huế - Bộ Công (Ministère des Travaux publics).jpg|Ministry of Public Works of Nguyễn Dynasty (Công Bộ: 工部).
File:His Excellency Tôn Thất Đàn, minister of Justice.jpg|alt=Tôn Thất Đàn, Minister of Justice of Nguyễn Dynasty (Hình Bộ : 刑部).|[[Tôn Thất Đàn]], Minister of Justice of Nguyễn Dynasty (Hình Bộ : 刑部).
File:Imperial Academy of Hue.jpg|alt=Imperial Academy, Huế under Ministry of Education of Nguyễn Dynasty (Học Bộ : 學部).|[[Imperial Academy, Huế]] under Ministry of Education of Nguyễn Dynasty (Học Bộ : 學部).
File:Triều đình Huế - Lễ Phục mạng (la Cérémonie de Phuc mang).jpg|Phục mạng ceremony when mandarin receive the edict from the Emperor in 1895.
</gallery>

=== Education system ===
{{Main|Confucian court examination system in Vietnam}}

=== Colonial education ===
<gallery>
File:School21.jpg|Tailoring class in a colonial school in [[Hanoi]], Tonkin
File:Geography class in colonial school Hanoi.jpg|Geography class in a colonial school. Hanoi, 1920
</gallery>

=== Pension ===

When mandarins retired, they could receive one hundred to four hundred quan from the emperor. When they died, the imperial court provided twenty to two hundred quan for a funeral.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

== Administrative divisions ==
{{Main|Flags of the Nguyễn dynasty's administrative units}}

=== Under Gia Long ===

During the reign of Gia Long, the kingdom was divided into twenty-three quasi-militant protectorates ''trấn'' and four military departments ''doanh.''{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=141}} Each protectorate, besides having their own separated regional governments, was under patrol of one greater, powerful unit called Overlord of Citadel, or the [[Viceroys of Vietnam|Viceroy]]. For examples, the northern protectorates had ''Bắc thành Tổng trấn'' (Viceroy of Northern Protectorates) in Hanoi, and southern protectorates had ''Gia Định thành Tổng trấn'' (Viceroy of Gia Định Protectorates) resides in [[Saigon]].{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=142}} Two famously viceroys during Gia Long's reign were [[Nguyễn Văn Thành]] (Hanoi) and [[Lê Văn Duyệt]] (Saigon). By 1802, these were:
* 16 protectorates under joint-governance from the Viceroys.
{{colbegin|colwidth=16em}}
# Sơn Nam Thượng (Hanoi)
# Sơn Nam Hạ ([[Nam Định]])
# [[Sơn Tây]]
# Kinh Bắc ([[Bắc Ninh]])
# [[Hải Dương]]
# [[Tuyên Quang]]
# [[Hưng Hóa Province|Hưng Hoá]]
# [[Cao Bằng]]
# [[Lạng Sơn]]
# [[Thái Nguyên]]
# [[Quảng Yên]]
# [[Ho Chi Minh City|Gia Định]]  or Phiên An
# [[Biên Hoà]]
# Vĩnh Thanh (later became [[Vĩnh Long]] and [[An Giang]]
# [[Định Tường Province|Định Tường]] (Tiền Giang)
# [[Hà Tiên]]
{{Colend}}
* 7 Central protectorates
{{colbegin|colwidth=16em}}
# [[Thanh Hoá]]
# [[Nghệ An]]
# Quảng Nghĩa ([[Quảng Ngãi]])
# [[Bình Định]]
# [[Phú Yên]]
# Bình Hoà ([[Khánh Hòa Province|Khánh Hoà]])
# [[Bình Thuận Province|Bình Thuận]]
{{Colend}}
* 4 departments surrounding [[Huế]], directly ruled by Gia Long.
# Quảng Đức
# [[Quảng Bình]]
# [[Quảng Trị]]
# [[Quảng Nam]]

=== Minh Mạng and later ===

In 1831, Minh Mạng reorganised his kingdom by converting all these protectorates into 31 provinces (''tỉnh''). Each province had a series of smaller jurisdictions: the prefecture (''phủ''), the subprefecture (''châu'', in areas whereas having a significant population of ethnic minorities). Under prefecture and subprefecture, there was the district (''huyện''), the canton (''tổng''). Under district and canton, the bundle of hamlets around one common religious temple or social factor point, the village ''(làng'' or the commune ''xã'') was the lowest administrative unit, which one respected person nominally took care of village administrative, which called lý trưởng.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=143}}

Two nearby provinces were combined into a pair. Every pair had a governor-general (''Tổng đốc'') and a governor (''Tuần phủ'').{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=145}} Frequently, there were twelve governor-generals and eleven governors, although, in some periods, the Emperor would appoint a "commissioner in charge of patrolled borderlands" (''kinh lược sứ'') that supervising entire northern of the southern part of the kingdom.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=147}} In 1803, Vietnam had 57 prefectures, 41 subprefectures, 201 districts, 4,136 cantons and 16,452 villages, and then by the 1840s its had been increased to 72 prefectures, 39 subprefectures and 283 districts, which an average 30,000 people per district.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=143}} Cambodia had been absorbed into the Vietnamese administrative system, bore the name [[Tây Thành Province]] from 1834 to 1845.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=146}} With areas having minority groups like [[Tày people|Tày]], [[Nùng people|Nùng]], Mèo ([[Hmong people]]), [[Mường people|Mường]], [[Mang people|Mang]] and [[Jarai people|Jarai]], the Huế court imposed the co-existing tributary and quasi-bureaucratic governance system, while allowing these people to have their own local rulers and autonomy.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=244}}
[[File:DongDuong1883.jpg|thumb|right|Map of 1883 Indochina Peninsula, shows three Vietnamese regions and client territories (Pays des Mois and Royme de Tran-ninh) of the Vietnamese Crown.]]

In 1832, there were:
* Three regions and 31 provinces (encompassed modern-day Vietnam):{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=148}}
{{colbegin|colwidth=16em}}
# [[Bắc Kỳ]] ([[Tonkin]])
## [[Hanoi]]
## [[Lạng Sơn]]
## [[Cao Bằng]]
## [[Bắc Ninh]]
## [[Thái Nguyên]]
## [[Nam Định]]
## [[Hưng Yên]]
## [[Sơn Tây]]
## [[Hưng Hóa Province|Hưng Hoá]]
## [[Tuyên Quang]]
## [[Hải Dương]]
## [[Quảng Yên]]
## [[Ninh Bình]]
# [[Trung Kỳ]] (Annam)
## [[Thanh Hoá]]
## [[Nghệ An]]
## [[Hà Tĩnh]]
## [[Quảng Bình]]
## [[Quảng Trị]]
## '''[[Thừa Thiên Huế Province|Thừa Thiên]]'''
## [[Quảng Nam]]
## [[Quảng Ngãi]]
## [[Bình Định]]
## [[Phú Yên]]
## [[Khánh Hòa Province|Khánh Hoà]]
## [[Bình Thuận Province|Bình Thuận]]
# [[Nam Kỳ]] ([[Cochinchina]])
## [[Biên Hoà]]
## [[Gia Định]]
## [[Vĩnh Long]]
## [[Định Tường Province|Định Tường]]
## [[An Giang]]
## [[Hà Tiên]]
{{Colend}}
* Client/dependent territories:{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|pp=238–239}}
# [[Kingdom of Luang Phrabang|Luang Phrabang]]
# [[Kingdom of Vientiane|Vientine]]
# Cambodia
# Jarai chiefdoms
* Chief cities:
# [[Huế]], capital city, population (1880): 30,000
# [[Hanoi]], major city, population (1880): 120,000
# [[Saigon]], major city, population (1880): 100,000

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of the Nguyễn dynasty until 1884}}

== Society ==

=== Culture and cultural discrimination ===
The Nguyễn dynasty viewed cultures that were "non-Chinese" as barbaric and called themselves the Central Kingdom (Trung Quốc, 中國).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW1uAAAAMAAJ&q=vietnam+long+hair+barbarians|pages=53, 111|title=Brother Enemy: The War After the War|first=Nayan|last=Chanda|edition=illustrated|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|date=1986|isbn=9780151144204}}</ref> This includes the Han Chinese under the Qing dynasty who were viewed as "non-Chinese". As the Qing have caused the Chinese to not be "Han" anymore. Chinese were referred to as ''"Thanh nhân"'' (清人)''.'' This occurred after Vietnam had sent a delegate to Beijing, whereupon a diplomatic disaster caused Vietnam to view other "non-Chinese" as barbaric in much the same way as the Qing.<ref>{{Cite web|date=29 August 2016|title=有个国家居然视自己是中国, 清政府做了一件事, 刺激到崩溃_历史_万花镜|url=http://www.wanhuajing.com/d540264|access-date=2021-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829031036/http://www.wanhuajing.com/d540264|archive-date=29 August 2016}}</ref> By the [[Nguyen dynasty|Nguyễn dynasty]] the Vietnamese themselves were ordering Cambodian Khmer to adopt [[Culture of Vietnam#Hairstyle and teeth blackening|Vietnamese culture by ceasing "barbarous" habits like cropping hair and ordering them to grow it long]] besides making them replace skirts with trousers.{{sfnp|Chandler|2018|p=153}} Han Chinese Ming dynasty refugees numbering 3,000 came to Vietnam at the end of the Ming dynasty. They opposed the Qing dynasty and were fiercely loyal to the Ming dynasty. Vietnamese women married these Han Chinese refugees since most of them were soldiers and single men. They did not wear Manchu hairstyle unlike [[Hoa people|later Chinese migrants to Vietnam during the Qing dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFpdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|page=39|title=Southern Vietnam under the Reign of Minh Mang (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|series=Book collections on Project MUSE|issue=Issue 20 of Southeast Asia Program series|last=Choi|first=Byung Wook|edition=illustrated|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=2018|isbn=978-1501719523}}</ref>

=== Vietnamisation of ethnic minorities ===
[[File:Section of the Đồng Khánh địa dư chí discussing the ethnic demographics of the Hưng Hóa region 01.gif|thumb|right|A [[Đồng Khánh]]-period text regarding the demographics of the [[Hưng Hóa Province]] referring to the ethnic groups as "Hán (-Vietnamese)" (漢), "Thanh" (清), and "[[Indigenous people|Thổ]]" (土). This indicates that during the beginning of the period of French domination the Vietnamese still maintained the "Hoa-Di distinction" while the indigenous peoples and the subjects of the Manchu Qing (Thanh) dynasty were viewed as "less civilised".]]

Under emperor Minh Mạng [[Sinicization|sinicisation]] of ethnic minorities became state policy. He claimed the legacy of Confucianism and China's [[Han dynasty]] for Vietnam, and used the term "Han people" (漢人, ''Hán nhân'') to refer to the Vietnamese.<ref name="Owen2005">{{cite book|author=Norman G. Owen|title=The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: A New History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=py5Xh0-pw18C&q=minh+mang+han&pg=PA115|year=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2890-5|pages=115–|access-date=18 November 2020|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927041045/https://books.google.com/books?id=py5Xh0-pw18C&q=minh+mang+han&pg=PA115#v=snippet&q=minh%20mang%20han&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Zottoli |first=Brian A. |year=2011 |title=Reconceptualizing Southern Vietnamese Hi story from the 15th to 18th Centuries: Competition along the Coasts from Guangdong to Cambod |type=A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) in The University of Michigan |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/89821/bria?sequence=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307082004/https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/89821/bria?sequence=1 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |page=14 |access-date=29 January 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to the emperor, "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs."<ref name="Moses2008">{{cite book|author=A. Dirk Moses|title=Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation, and Subaltern Resistance in World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBgoNN4MG-YC&q=minh+mang+han&pg=PA209|date= 2008|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-452-4|pages=209–|access-date=18 November 2020|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927041144/https://books.google.com/books?id=RBgoNN4MG-YC&q=minh+mang+han&pg=PA209#v=snippet&q=minh%20mang%20han&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> These policies were directed at the [[Khmer Krom|Khmer]] and [[Degar|hill tribes]].<ref name="PeerenboomPetersen2006">{{cite book|author1=Randall Peerenboom|author2=Carole J. Petersen|author3=Albert H.Y. Chen|title=Human Rights in Asia: A Comparative Legal Study of Twelve Asian Jurisdictions, France and the USA|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2j6GNiMMc1oC&pg=PA474|date= 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-23881-1|pages=474–}}</ref> Nguyễn Phúc Chu had referred to the Vietnamese as "Han people" in 1712, distinguishing them from the Chams.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://kyotoreview.org/issue-5/vietnam-champa-relations-and-the-malay-islam-regional-network-in-the-17th-19th-centuries/ |title=Vietnam–Champa Relations and the Malay–Islam Regional Network in the 17th–19th Centuries |website=Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia |author=Danny Wong Tze Ken |date=17 June 2004}}</ref> The Nguyễn lords established [[Tuntian#Other countries|colonies]] after 1790. Gia Long said, ''"Hán di hữu hạn"'' ([[:wikt:漢|漢]] [[:wikt:夷|夷]] [[:wikt:有|有]] [[:wikt:限|限]], "The Vietnamese and the barbarians must have clear borders"), distinguishing the [[Khmer people|Khmer]] from the Vietnamese.<ref name="Wook2004 2">{{cite book|author=Choi Byung Wook|title=Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&pg=PA34|year=2004|publisher=SEAP Publications|isbn=978-0-87727-138-3|pages=34–|access-date=22 June 2016|archive-date=20 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120172636/https://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&pg=PA34|url-status=live}}</ref> Minh Mang implemented an [[acculturation]] policy for minority non-Vietnamese peoples.<ref name="Wook2004 3">{{cite book|author=Choi Byung Wook|title=Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&pg=PA136|year=2004|publisher=SEAP Publications|isbn=978-0-87727-138-3|pages=136–}}</ref> ''"Thanh nhân"'' ([[:wikt:清|清]] [[:wikt:人|人]] referring to the [[Qing dynasty]]) or ''"Đường nhân"'' ([[:wikt:唐人|唐人]] referring to the [[Tang dynasty]]) were used to refer to [[Hoa people|ethnic Chinese]] by the Vietnamese, who called themselves ''"Hán dân"'' ([[:wikt:漢|漢]] [[:wikt:民|民]]) and ''"Hán nhân"'' (漢人 referring to the [[Han dynasty]]) during 19th-century Nguyễn rule.<ref name="Wook2004 4">{{cite book|author=Choi Byung Wook|title=Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&pg=PA137|year=2004|publisher=SEAP Publications|isbn=978-0-87727-138-3|pages=137–}}</ref> Since 1827, descendants of [[Ming dynasty]] refugees were called ''Minh nhân'' (明人) or ''[[Minh Hương]]'' ([[:wikt:明|明]] [[:wikt:鄉|鄉]]) by Nguyễn rulers, to distinguish with ethnic Chinese.<ref>Nguyễn Đức Hiệp. [http://www.vanhoahoc.edu.vn/nghien-cuu/van-hoa-viet-nam/van-hoa-nam-bo/344-nguyen-duc-hiep-ve-lich-su-nguoi-minh-huong-va-nguoi-hoa-o-nam-bo.html Về lịch sử người Minh Hương và người Hoa ở Nam bộ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208120647/http://www.vanhoahoc.edu.vn/nghien-cuu/van-hoa-viet-nam/van-hoa-nam-bo/344-nguyen-duc-hiep-ve-lich-su-nguoi-minh-huong-va-nguoi-hoa-o-nam-bo.html |date=8 December 2015 }}. Văn hóa học, 21 February 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2015.</ref> ''Minh nhân'' were treated as Vietnamese since 1829.<ref name="chiung">{{Cite journal |title=越南的明鄉人與華人移民的族群認同與本土化差異 |url=http://uibun.twl.ncku.edu.tw/chuliau/lunsoat/taibun/2013/MinhHuong2013CC.pdf |author=蔣為文 |year=2013 |journal=台灣國際研究季刊 |publisher=國立成功大學越南研究中心 |volume=9 |issue=4 |page=8 |language=zh-tw |access-date=23 June 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="leo">{{cite book |author=Leo Suryadinata |year=1997 |title=Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qv-4ScjTO-AC |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9813055502 |access-date=7 July 2014|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|272}} They were not allowed to go to China, and also not allowed to wear [[Queue (hairstyle)|the Manchu queue]].<ref name="ccu">{{cite encyclopedia |title=明鄉人 |encyclopedia=[[Chinese Encyclopedia]] |year=1983 |publisher=[[Chinese Culture University]] |url=http://ap6.pccu.edu.tw/Encyclopedia/data.asp?id=700 |language=zh-tw |access-date=24 June 2014 |archive-date=9 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309061456/http://ap6.pccu.edu.tw/Encyclopedia/data.asp?id=700 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Clothing ===
The Nguyễn dynasty popularized [[Chinese clothing#Qing Dynasty (1644–1912)|Qing-influenced clothing]].<ref name="Woodside1971 3">{{cite book|author=Alexander Woodside|title=Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LgSI9UQNpwC&pg=PA134|year=1971|publisher=Harvard Univ Asia Center|isbn=978-0-674-93721-5|pages=134–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Globalization: A View by Vietnamese Consumers Through Wedding Windows|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4bmbP5Pg5jAC&pg=PA34|year=2008|isbn=978-0-549-68091-8|pages=34–|last1=Nguyen|first1=Thuc-Doan T.|publisher=University of Utah}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://angelasancartier.net/ao-dai-vietnams-national-dress|title=Angelasancartier.net|website=angelasancartier.net|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=21 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121182241/http://angelasancartier.net/ao-dai-vietnams-national-dress|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://beyondvictoriana.com/2010/03/14/beyond-victoriana-18-transcultural-tradition-of-the-vietnamese-ao-dai/|title=#18 Transcultural Tradition of the Vietnamese Ao Dai|date=14 March 2010|website=Beyondvictoriana.com|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=23 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323122205/http://beyondvictoriana.com/2010/03/14/beyond-victoriana-18-transcultural-tradition-of-the-vietnamese-ao-dai/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/ao-dai|title=Ao Dai – LoveToKnow|website=Fashion-hjistory.lovetoknow.com|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=4 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204032753/http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/clothing-types-styles/ao-dai|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tor.com/2010/10/20/ao-dai-and-i-steampunk-essay/|title=The Ao Dai and I: A Personal Essay on Cultural Identity and Steampunk|date=20 October 2010|website=Tor.com|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307004314/http://www.tor.com/2010/10/20/ao-dai-and-i-steampunk-essay/|url-status=live}}</ref> Trousers were adopted by female [[Hmong language|White H'mong]] speakers,<ref>{{cite book|title=Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AIAQAAIAAJ&q=vietnamese+skirt+trousers+tunics|year=2002|publisher=Michelin Travel Publications|page=200}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> replacing their traditional skirts.<ref name="LeeTapp2010">{{cite book|author1=Gary Yia Lee|author2=Nicholas Tapp|title=Culture and Customs of the Hmong|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RZEFgIhfdJEC&pg=PA138|date= 2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-34527-2|pages=138–|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060906/https://books.google.com/books?id=RZEFgIhfdJEC&pg=PA138|url-status=live}}</ref> The Qing-influenced tunics and trousers were worn by the Vietnamese. The ''[[áo dài]]'' was developed in the 1920s, when compact, close-fitting [[Tuck (sewing)|tucks]] were added to predecessor of the áo dài, [[áo ngũ thân]].<ref name="Reid2015">{{cite book|author=Anthony Reid|title=A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cETJBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA285|date= 2015|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-631-17961-0|pages=285–|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060753/https://books.google.com/books?id=cETJBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA285#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Chinese-influenced trousers and tunics were ordered by lord [[Nguyễn Phúc Khoát]] during the 18th century, replacing traditional Vietnamese [[áo giao lĩnh|áo tràng vạt]] derived from Chinese ''jiaoling youren'' (Chinese: 交領右衽).<ref name="Reid1990">{{cite book|author=Anthony Reid|title=Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680: The Lands Below the Winds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqyJViWXkVsC&pg=PA90|date=1990|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-04750-9|pages=90–|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060821/https://books.google.com/books?id=lqyJViWXkVsC&pg=PA90|url-status=live}}</ref> Although the Chinese-influenced trousers and tunic were mandated by the Nguyen government, skirts were worn in isolated north Vietnamese hamlets until the 1920s.<ref name="Rambo2005">{{cite book|author=A. Terry Rambo|title=Searching for Vietnam: Selected Writings on Vietnamese Culture and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ippuAAAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Kyoto University Press|isbn=978-1-920901-05-9|page=64}}</ref> Chinese style clothing was ordered for the Vietnamese military and bureaucrats by [[Nguyễn Phúc Khoát]].<ref name="WernerWhitmore2012">{{cite book|author1=Jayne Werner|author2=John K. Whitmore|author3=George Dutton|title=Sources of Vietnamese Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHD4Asj0FagC&pg=PA295|date=2012|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-51110-0|pages=295–|access-date=21 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060907/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHD4Asj0FagC&pg=PA295#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

An 1841 [[polemic]], "On Distinguishing Barbarians", was based on the Qing sign "Vietnamese Barbarians' Hostel" (越夷會館) on the [[Fujian]] residence of Nguyen diplomat and [[Hoa people|Hoa Chinese]] Lý Văn Phức.<ref name="Woodside1971 4">{{cite book|author=Alexander Woodside|title=Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Vietnamese and Chinese Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LgSI9UQNpwC&pg=PA117|year=1971|publisher=Harvard Univ Asia Center|isbn=978-0-674-93721-5|pages=117–|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060850/https://books.google.com/books?id=0LgSI9UQNpwC&pg=PA117#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wanhuajing.com/d540264 |title=有个国家居然视自己是中国, 清政府做了一件事, 刺激到崩溃_历史_万花镜 |access-date=9 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829031036/http://www.wanhuajing.com/d540264 |archive-date=29 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dajia.qq.com/blog/264933028072213.html |title=张明扬 : 历史上异域的中国梦 _ 腾讯 · 大家 |access-date=9 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916053023/http://dajia.qq.com/blog/264933028072213.html |archive-date=16 September 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lwxww.cn/system/2014/10/29/010483307.shtml|title=越南名儒李文馥-龙文,乡贤,名儒-龙文新闻网|website=Lwxww.cn|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=8 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008215605/http://www.lwxww.cn/system/2014/10/29/010483307.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> It argued that the Qing did not subscribe to the neo-Confucianist texts from the [[Song dynasty|Song]] and Ming dynasties which were learned by the Vietnamese,<ref name="GillespieChen2010">{{cite book|author1=John Gillespie|author2=Albert H.Y. Chen|title=Legal Reforms in China and Vietnam: A Comparison of Asian Communist Regimes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdqQMn8sbLoC&pg=PA6|date=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-85269-9|pages=6–|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060754/https://books.google.com/books?id=gdqQMn8sbLoC&pg=PA6|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=John Gillespie|author2=Albert H.Y. Chen|title=Legal Reforms in China and Vietnam: A Comparison of Asian Communist Regimes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkpZBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|date= 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-97843-2|pages=6–|access-date=9 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060754/https://books.google.com/books?id=pkpZBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author1=John Gillespie|author2=Albert H.Y. Chen|title=Legal Reforms in China and Vietnam: A Comparison of Asian Communist Regimes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7XHBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|date= 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-97842-5|pages=6–|access-date=9 August 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104060754/https://books.google.com/books?id=I7XHBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> who saw themselves as sharing a civilization with the Qing.<ref name="Holcombe2001">{{cite book|author=Charles Holcombe|title=The Genesis of East Asia: 221 B.C. – A.D. 907|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XT5pvPZ4vroC&pg=PA41|date=2001|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2465-5|pages=41–|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104061400/https://books.google.com/books?id=XT5pvPZ4vroC&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> This event triggered a diplomatic disaster. The consequence was that non-"Han Chinese highland tribes" and other non-Vietnamese peoples living near (or in) Vietnam were called "barbarian" by the Vietnamese imperial court.<ref name="McElwee2003">{{cite book|author=Pamela D. McElwee|title='Lost worlds' or 'lost causes'?: biodiversity conservation, forest management, and rural life in Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6YKAQAAMAAJ&q=Vietnamese+barbarian+hostel|year=2003|publisher=Yale University|page=67|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104061256/https://books.google.com/books?id=u6YKAQAAMAAJ&q=Vietnamese+barbarian+hostel|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Pamela D. McElwee|title='Lost worlds' or 'lost causes'?: biodiversity conservation, forest management, and rural life in Vietnam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u6YKAQAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Yale University|page=67|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104061256/https://books.google.com/books?id=u6YKAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Journal of Vietnamese Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-g-AQAAIAAJ&q=Vietnamese+barbarian+hostel|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|page=317|access-date=4 October 2016|archive-date=4 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104061400/https://books.google.com/books?id=f-g-AQAAIAAJ&q=Vietnamese+barbarian+hostel|url-status=live}}</ref> The essay distinguishes the Yi and Hua, and mentions Zhao Tuo, Wen, Shun and Taibo.{{sfn|Kelley|2006|p=325}} [[Liam Kelley (historian)|Kelley]] and Woodside described Vietnam's Confucianism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cindyanguyen.wordpress.com/2016/03/09/confucianismvietnam/|title=Q. How Confucian is/was Vietnam?|author1=Woodside|author2=Kelley|author3=Cooke|date=9 March 2016|website=Cindyanguyen.wordpress.com|access-date=19 November 2017}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Emperors Minh Mạng, [[Thiệu Trị]] and [[Tự Đức]], were opposed to French involvement in Vietnam, and tried to reduce the country's growing [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] community. The imprisonment of missionaries who had illegally entered the country was the primary pretext for the French to invade (and occupy) [[Indochina]]. Like Qing China, a number of incidents involved other European nations during the 19th century.

=== Religion ===
[[File:Cochin Chinese Pirest of Fo or Buddhist monks by John Crawfurd book Published by H Colburn London 1828.jpg|thumb|left|Buddhist monks in South Vietnam, 1828]]Although the previous [[Nguyễn lords]] were faithful [[Buddhists]], Gia Long was not a Buddhist. He adopted [[Neo-Confucianism]] and actively restricted Buddhism. Scholars, elites, and officials attacked Buddhist doctrines and criticized them as superstitious and useless. The third emperor, [[Thiệu Trị]], elevated Confucianism as the true religion and while regarding Buddhism as superstition.{{sfnp|Dyt|2015|p=15}}[[File:Eglise de Sontay.JPG|thumb|right|Church of Sơn Tây in 1884.]]

Building new Buddhist pagodas and temples were forbidden. [[Bhikkhu|Buddhist clergies]] and [[Bhikkuni|nuns]] were forced to join public works to limit the influence of Buddhism and promote Confucianism as the sole dominant belief of the society. However, such embracing a Sinic Confucian culture among the Vietnamese populace whom lived amidst a Southeast Asian infrastructure, widening the distance between the population and the court far away.{{sfnp|Kelley|2006|p=349}} Buddhism was still prevalent in mainstream society and had its presence within the imperial palace. Empress mothers, queens, princess, and concubines were devout Buddhists, despite the patriarchal prohibition.
{{Wide image|File:Ngự giá Nam Giao đại tự đồ.jpg|600px|align-cap=center|The panorama of [[Esplanade of Sacrifice to the Heaven and Earth|Nam Giao]] procession}}

Confucianism itself was the ideology of the Nguyen court, also provided the basic core of classical education and civil examination every year. Gia Long pursued [[Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues|Confucianism to create and maintain a conservative society and social structures]]. Confucian rituals and ideas were circulations based within ancient Confucian teaching such as [[The Analects]] and [[Spring and Autumn Annals]] in Vietnamese-script collections.{{sfnp|Kelley|2006|p=343}} The court rigidly imported these Chinese books from Chinese merchants. Confucian rituals such as ''cầu đảo'' (offering heaven for wind and rain during a drought) that the emperor and court officials perform for wishing heaven to rain down his kingdom.{{sfnp|Dyt|2015|p=4}} If the offer went successful, they had to conduct ''lễ tạ'' (thanksgiving ritual) to heaven. In addition, the emperor believed that holy spirits and natural goddesses of his country can also make rain. In 1804, Gia Long built the Nam Hải Long Vương Temple (Temple of Southern Ocean Dragon King) in Thuận An, northeast of Hue in his faithfulness to the god of Thuận An (''Thần Thuận An''), the place where most of ''cầu đảo'' ritual was performed.{{sfnp|Dyt|2015|pp=12–13}} His successor, Minh Mạng, continued to build several temples dedicated to the ''Vũ Sư'' (Rainmaking god) and altars for ''Thần Mây'' (Cloud God) and ''Thần Sấm'' (Thunder God).{{sfnp|Dyt|2015|p=14}}[[File:Vietnamese buddhist monk1.jpg|thumb|left|Vietnamese Buddhist monks in Hanoi]] [[Nguyen Truong To|Nguyễn Trường Tộ]], a prominent Catholic and reformist intellectual, launched an attack on Confucian structures in 1867 as decadent. He wrote to Tự Đức: "the evil that has been brought on China and on our country by the Confucian way of life." He criticized the court's Confucian education as dogmatic and unrealistic, promoted for his education reform.{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|pp=305–306}}

During Gia Long's years, Catholicism was peacefully worshipped without any restriction. Began with Minh Mạng, who considered Christianity as a heterodox religion for its rejection of ancestor worship, the important belief of the Vietnamese monarchy. After reading the Bible (Old and New Testament), he considered the Christian religion irrational and ridiculous, and praised [[Tokugawa era|Tokugawa]] Japan for its notorious policies on Christians. Minh Mạng also was influenced by anti-Christian propaganda written by Vietnamese Confucian officials and literati, which described the mixing of men and women and liberal society among the Church. The most thing he worried about Christianity and Catholicism was writing texts that proved that Christianity was a means for Europeans to take over foreign countries. He also praised the anti-Christian policy in Japan.{{sfnp|Taylor|2013|pp=421–422}} Churches were destroyed and many Christians were imprisoned. The persecution got intense during the reign of his grandson [[Tu Duc|Tự Đức]], when most of the state efforts were to annihilate Vietnamese Christianity, although even during the height of the anti-Catholic campaign, many Catholic scholars were still permitted to hold high positions in the imperial court.

After an imperial edict in late 1862, Catholicism was officially recognized and worshipers of the faith obtained state protection. It is estimated that late-19th century Vietnam had about 600,000 to 700,000 Catholic Christians.

=== Demography ===
[[File:Family(1).jpg|thumb|left|Traditional Pharmacy in Tonkin, Vietnam]]Before the French conquest, the Vietnamese population was very sparse due to the agricultural backbones economy of the country. The population in 1802 was 6.5&nbsp;million people and had only grown to 8 million by 1840.{{sfnp|Popkin|1979|p=136}} Rapid industrialization after the 1860s ushered in massive population growth and rapid urbanization in the late 19th century. Many peasants left tenant farms and poured into cities, they were hired by French-owned factories. By 1880 the Vietnamese were estimated back then as high as 18 million people,{{sfnp|Johnston|1881|p=322}} while modern estimates by Angus Maddison have suggested a lower figure of 12.2&nbsp;million people.{{sfnp|Avakov|2015|p=28}} Vietnam under the Nguyễn dynasty was always a multiethnic complex. Nearly 80% percent of the Empire's population were [[ethnic Vietnamese]] (called Annamites then),{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=433}} whom language belonged to the Mon-Khmer (Mon–Annamite then) family,{{sfnp|Richardson|1880|p=159}} and the rest were [[Cham people|Cham]], [[Han Chinese|Chinese]], [[Khmer people|Khmer]], [[Muong people|Mường]], [[Tày people|Tày]] (called Thô then), and other 50 ethnic minorities such as the [[Mang people|Mang]], Jarai, Yao.{{sfnp|Keane|1896|p=272}}
[[File:Childrens (1).jpg|thumb|right|Children playing a traditional game in [[Quỳ Châu district|Quỳ Châu]], [[Nghệ An province]], 1920]]
The Annamites are distributed across the lowland of the country from Tonkin to Cochichina. The Chams live in central Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. The Chinese particularly concentrated in urbanised areas such as Saigon, [[Chợ Lớn]], and Hanoi.{{sfnp|Staunton|1884|p=37}} The Chinese tended to be divided into two groups called ''[[Minh Hương]]'' (明鄉) and ''Thanh nhân'' (清人).{{sfnp|Lieberman|2003|p=430}} The Minh Hương were Chinese refugees that had migrated and settled down in Vietnam earlier during the 17th century, who married with Vietnamese women, had been substantially assimilated to local Vietnamese and Khmer populaces, and loyal to the Nguyen,{{sfnp|Choi|2004b|p=85}} compared to the Thanh nhân that recently arrived in Southern Vietnam, dominated the rice trade. During the reign of Minh Mạng, a restriction against the Thanh nhân was issued in 1827, Thanh nhân could not access to the state bureaucracy and had to be integrated into Vietnamese population like the Minh Hương.{{sfnp|Woodside|1988|p=272}}

The [[Muong people|Mường people]] inhabited the hills west of the Red River Delta, and although subordinate to the central authority, they were permitted to bear arms, a privilege not accorded to any other subjects of the court of Huế. The Tày and the Mang live in the northern highlands of Tonkin, both submitted to Huế court along with taxes and tribute, but were allowed to have their hereditary chiefs.{{sfnp|Staunton|1884|p=38}}

=== Photography ===
{{Main|Photography in Vietnam}}
The first photographs of Vietnam were taken by [[Jules Itier]] in [[Danang]], in 1845.{{sfnp|Bennett|2020|p=15}} The first photos of the Vietnamese were taken by Fedor Jagor in November 1857 in Singapore.{{sfnp|Bennett|2020|p=18}} Due to the forbidden contact to foreigners, photography returned to Vietnam again during the French conquest and had shots taken by [[Paul Berranger]] during the French invasion of Da Nang (September 1858).{{sfnp|Bennett|2020|p=20}} Since the French seizure of Saigon in 1859, the city and southern Vietnam had been opening to foreigners, and photography entered Vietnam exclusively from France and Europe.{{sfnp|Bennett|2020|p=24}}<gallery>
File:Fortress of Danang, 1845.jpg|alt=|Early photograph of Fortress of Danang in 1845
File:Imperial parade.jpg|The Nobility leaving the Imperial Citiadel.
File:Noble.jpg|A Vietnamese noble posed for the photograph.
File:Group of musicians.jpg|Group of musicians in Huế, 1919. They are sitting on a [[sập]].
File:Female musicians.jpg|Group of female musicians from Cochinchina to perform in the colonial exposition in Marseille, 1922
File:Judge and criminal.jpg|Judge and offender in the local trial.
</gallery>

== Military ==
{{Main|Military of the Nguyễn dynasty}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:770RueHue.jpg|alt=|[[Huế]] city drawing in 1875
File:Une cérémonie de mariage au Tonkin.jpg|1884 drawing of a marriage ceremony in [[Tonkin (French protectorate)|Tonkin]]
File:ElephantParadeHue.png|Elephant parade in Huế
File:DrawingVN.jpg|Tết new year holiday in temple Vietnam
File:Maquette de bateau de l'Annam (Indochine, Viêt Nam) (1).jpg|Model of a traditional ship in central Vietnam
</gallery>

== Imperial family ==
{{Main|House of Nguyễn Phúc}}

{{Royal house
|surname        = Imperial family of the Nguyễn dynasty
|coat of arms   = Đại Nam Hoàng đế chi tỷ (大南皇帝之璽).svg
|country        = [[File:Seal of Nguyễn Lords.svg|25px]] [[Đàng Trong|Nam Hà / Đàng Trong]]<br />[[File:First flag of the Nguyen Dynasty.svg|25px]] Nguyễn dynasty<br />[[File:Flag of Colonial Annam.svg|25px]] [[Annam (French protectorate)|French protectorates of Annam]] and [[Tonkin (French protectorate)|Tonkin]]<br />[[File:Flag of the Empire of Vietnam (1945).svg|25px]] [[Empire of Vietnam]]<br />[[File:Flag of South Vietnam.svg|25px]] [[State of Vietnam]]
|titles         =
* Lord of [[Quảng Nam Province|Quảng Nam]]
* Emperor of [[Đại Việt]]
* Emperor of Vietnam
* Emperor of Đại Nam
* [[Leaders of South Vietnam|Emperor]] of Vietnam
|founder        =
|founding year  = 1558
|final_ruler    = [[Bảo Đại]]
|deposition     = 1777 ([[Tây Sơn Rebellion]])<br>1945 ([[Abdication of Bảo Đại]]){{Efn|Bảo Đại was fully removed from Vietnamese politics following a [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum|referendum in 1955]].}}<br>[[1955 State of Vietnam referendum]]  
|parent house   =
|cadet branches = [[Tôn Thất]]
|traditions     = [[Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]] and [[Catholicism]]
}}

The '''House of Nguyễn Phúc''' (Nguyen Gia Mieu) had historically been founded in the 14th century in Gia Miêu village, King Nguyen origins from the 15th century was from Nguyen Dinh Xi. [[Thanh Hoa Province|Thanh Hóa Province]], before they came to rule southern Vietnam from 1558 to 1777 and 1780 to 1802, then became the ruling dynasty of the entire Vietnam. Traditionally, the family traces themselves to [[Nguyễn Bặc]] (924–79), a duke and general during the [[Đinh dynasty]] from [[Gia Viễn]], [[Ninh Bình]]. Princes and male descendants of Gia Long are called Hoàng Thân, while male [[lineal descendant]]s of previous Nguyen lords are named [[Tôn Thất]]. Grandsons of the emperor were Hoàng tôn. Daughters of the emperor were called Hoàng nữ, and always earned the title công chúa (princess).

Their succession practically is according to the law of primogeniture, but sometimes conflicted. The first succession conflict arose in 1816 when Gia Long was designing for an heir. His first prince [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]] died in 1802. As a result, two rival factions emerged, one support [[Nguyễn Phúc Mỹ Đường]], the eldest son of Prince Cảnh, as the crown prince, while other support Prince Đảm (later Minh Mang).{{sfnp|Smith|1974|p=154}} The second conflict was the 1847 succession when two young princes [[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Bảo]] and [[Tu Duc|Hồng Nhậm]] were dragged by the ill-failing Emperor Thiệu Trị as a potential heir. At first, Thiệu Trị apparently chose Prince Hồng Bảo because he was older, but after hearing advice from two regents [[Trương Đăng Quế]] and [[Nguyễn Tri Phương]], he revised the heir at last minute and choose Hồng Nhậm as the crown prince.{{sfnp|Smith|1974|p=155}}

=== {{anchor|List of Nguyễn emperors}}Emperors ===

The following list is the emperors' [[era name]]s, which have meaning in Chinese and Vietnamese. For example, the first ruler's era name, Gia Long, is the combination of the old names for [[Saigon]] (Gia Định) and [[Hanoi]] (Thăng Long) to show the new unity of the country; the fourth, Tự Đức, means "Inheritance of Virtues"; the ninth, Đồng Khánh, means "Collective Celebration".
{| class="wikitable"
! Portrait/Photo
! [[Temple name]]
! [[Posthumous name]]
! Personal name
! Lineage
! Reign
! [[Regnal name]]
! Tomb
! Events
|-
| [[File:Emperor Gia Long.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Gia Long]]
| Thế Tổ || Khai Thiên Hoằng Đạo Lập Kỷ Thùy Thống Thần Văn Thánh Vũ Tuấn Đức Long Công Chí Nhân Đại Hiếu Cao Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Ánh
| [[Nguyễn lords]]
| 1802–20 (1) || [[Gia Long]]
| [[Thien Tho Tomb|Thiên Thọ lăng]] || Defeated the [[Tây Sơn]] and unified Vietnam.
|-
| [[File:Minh Mang.gif|100px|alt=Portrait of Minh Mang]]
| Thánh Tổ || Thể Thiên Xương Vận Chí Hiếu Thuần Đức Văn Vũ Minh Đoán Sáng Thuật Đại Thành Hậu Trạch Phong Công Nhân Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Đảm
| Son
| 1820–41 (2) || [[Minh Mạng|Minh Mệnh]] (Minh Mạng)
| Hiếu Lăng || Annexed Cambodia after the [[Siamese–Vietnamese War (1831–1834)]]. Annexed [[Muang Phuan]] after the [[Lao rebellion (1826–1828)|Lao rebellion]]. Suppressed the [[Lê Văn Khôi revolt]]. Annexed the remaining [[Panduranga]] kingdom after the [[Ja Thak Wa uprising]], renamed the country Đại Nam (Great South), suppressed Christianity.
|-
|
| Hiến Tổ || Thiệu Thiên Long Vận Chí Thiện Thuần Hiếu Khoan Minh Duệ Đoán Văn Trị Vũ Công Thánh Triết Chượng Chương Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông
| Son
| 1841–47 (3) || [[Thiệu Trị]]
| Xương Lăng || Carried out policies of isolationism. Pulling troops from Cambodia.
|-
| [[File:Vua Tu Duc.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Tự Đức]]
| Dực Tông || Thể Thiên Hanh Vận Chí Thành Đạt Hiếu Thể Kiện Đôn Nhân Khiêm Cung Minh Lược Duệ Văn Anh Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm
| Son
| 1847–83 (4) || [[Tự Đức]]
| [[Khiêm Lăng]] || Suppressed Đoàn Hữu Trưng's rebellion. Facing French invasions. Ceded Cochinchina to France after the [[Cochinchina campaign]]. Fought against French invasions of 1873 and 1882–1883.
|-
| [[File:An lang.jpg|100px|alt=Dục Đức's tomb]]
| Cung Tông || Huệ Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Chân
| Nephew (adopted son of Tự Đức)
| 1883 (5) || [[Dục Đức]]
| [[Tomb of Dục Đức|An Lăng]] || Three-day emperor (20–23 July 1883), deposed and poisoned by [[Tôn Thất Thuyết]].
|-
| [[File:Hiep Hoa.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Hiệp Hòa]]
| – || Văn Lãng Quận Vương
| Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Dật
| Uncle (son of Thiệu Trị)
| 1883 (6) || [[Hiệp Hòa]]
| || Four-month emperor (30 July – 29 November 1883), poisoned by the order of [[Tôn Thất Thuyết]].
|-
| [[File:Kien Phuc.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Kiến Phúc]]
| Giản Tông || Thiệu Đức Chí Hiếu Uyên Duệ Nghị Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đăng
| Nephew (son of Hiệp Hòa's brother)
| 1883–84 (7) || [[Kiến Phúc]]
| Bồi Lăng (within [[Khiêm Lăng]]) || Eight-month emperor (2 December 1883 – 31 July 1884). Signing of the [[Treaty of Huế (1884)]].
|-
| [[File:Vua Hàm Nghi năm 1900.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Hàm Nghi]]
| – || —
| Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Lịch
| Younger brother
| 1884–85 (8) || [[Hàm Nghi]]
| Thonac Cemetery, France || Resisting against French rule under the [[Cần Vương movement]]. Dethroned after one year, continuing his rebellion until captured in 1888 and exiled to [[French Algeria]] until his death in 1943.
|-
| [[File:Intronisation du roi Dong Khanh.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Đồng Khánh]]
| Cảnh Tông || Hoằng Liệt Thống Thiết Mẫn Huệ Thuần Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ
| Older brother
| 1885–89 (9) || [[Đồng Khánh]]
| Tư Lăng || Suppress Hàm Nghi's [[Cần Vương movement]].
|-
| [[File:Emperor Thanh Thai in court costume (colored).jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Thành Thái]]
| – || Hoài Trạch Công
| Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân
| Cousin (son of Dục Đức)
| 1889–1907 (10) || [[Thành Thái]]
| An Lăng || Exiled to [[Réunion]] Island due to anti-French activities.
|-
| [[File:Vua Duy Tan nho.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Duy Tân]]
| – || —
| Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh San
| son
| 1907–16 (11) || [[Duy Tân]]
| An Lăng || Rebelled against the French and exiled to [[Réunion]] Island in 1916.
|-
| [[File:Khai Dinh throne.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Khải Định]]
| Hoằng Tông || Tự Đại Gia Vận Thánh Minh Thần Trí Nhân Hiếu Thành Kính Di Mô Thừa Liệt Tuyên Hoàng Đế
| Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo
| Cousin (son of [[Đồng Khánh]])
| 1916–25 (12) || [[Khải Định]]
| [[Tomb of Khải Định|Ứng Lăng]] || Collaborated with the French, and was a political figurehead for French colonial rulers. Unpopular to the Vietnamese people.
|-
| [[File:Emperor Bảo Đại on his throne.jpg|100px|alt=Portrait of Bảo Đại]]
| — || —
| Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy
| Son
| 1926–45 (13) || [[Bảo Đại]]
| [[Cimetière de Passy]], France || Head of the [[Empire of Vietnam]] under Japanese occupation during World War II; [[Abdication of Bảo Đại|abdicated]] and transferred power to the [[Viet Minh]] in 1945, ending the Vietnamese monarchy. Installed as head of state of the [[State of Vietnam]], ousted by [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] after the [[1955 State of Vietnam referendum|1955 referendum]].
|}

After the death of Emperor Tự Đức (and according to his will), Dục Đức ascended to the throne on 19 July 1883. He was dethroned and imprisoned three days later, after being accused of deleting a paragraph from Tự Đức's will. With no time to announce his dynastic title, his era name was named for his residential palace.

=== Lineage ===

{| border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style="font-size:90%; margin:1em 2em 1em 1em; text-align:center"
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" |
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 1<br /> '''[[Gia Long]]'''<br /> 1802–1819 || &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 2<br /> '''[[Minh Mạng|Minh Mệnh]]'''<br /> 1820–1840 || &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 3<br /> '''[[Thiệu Trị]]'''<br /> 1841–1847 || &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 2px; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 2px; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 2px; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
|-
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 4<br /> '''[[Tự Đức]]'''<br /> 1847–1883 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | [[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Y|Thoại Thái Vương]] || &nbsp;
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | [[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai|Kiên Thái Vương]] || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 6<br /> '''[[Hiep Hoa|Hiệp Hoà]]'''<br /> 1883
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 2px; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="20" style="border-width: 2px 0 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
| width="75" style="border-width: 2px 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 5<br /> '''[[Dục Đức]]'''<br /> 1883 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 9<br /> '''[[Đồng Khánh]]'''<br /> 1885–1889 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 8<br /> '''[[Hàm Nghi]]'''<br /> 1884–1885 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 7<br /> '''[[Kiến Phúc]]'''<br /> 1883–1884
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 10<br /> '''[[Thành Thái]]'''<br /> 1889–1907 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 12<br /> '''[[Khải Định]]'''<br /> 1916–1925 || &nbsp;
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" style="border-width: 0 2px 0 0; border-style:solid; border-color:black;" | &nbsp; || width="75" | || width="20" |
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 11<br /> '''[[Duy Tân]]'''<br /> 1907–1916 || &nbsp;
| colspan="2" style="border:1px solid #8F8F8F;" | 13<br /> '''[[Bảo Đại]]'''<br /> 1926–1945 || &nbsp;
|-
|-
|
|
|-
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" | || width="20" |
| width="75" | || width="75" |
|-
|}
''Note'':
* Years are reigning years.

=== Family tree ===
Simplified family tree of the Nguyen Phuc dynasty:
* {{Color sample|#7FFFD4; border-width:1px}} – Lords of Cochinchina (1550s–1777)
* {{Color sample|#DA70D6; border-width:1px}} – Emperors of the independent Vietnamese monarchy (1802–1883)
* {{Color sample|#E0FFD1; border-width:1px}} – Emperors of [[French Annam]] and Tonkin/Emperor of [[Empire of Vietnam]] (1885–1945)

{{Chart top|text-align=left|Nguyễn Phúc family tree}}
{{Tree chart/start|align=center| summary= Nguyen Gia Mieu family tree (Gia Long's branch)|style=font-size:85%;}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Cndu | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cndu={{ill|Nguyễn Công Duẩn|vi|Nguyễn Công Duẩn}} {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Vanlo | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vanlo={{ill|Nguyễn Văn Lỗ|vi|Nguyễn Văn Lỗ}} {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Vanlang | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vanlang={{ill|Nguyễn Văn Lang|vi|Nguyễn Văn Lang}} {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Hoadu | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hoadu={{ill|Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ|vi|Nguyễn Hoằng Dụ}}{{sfnp|Kiernan|2019|p=214}} {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Kim | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kim=[[Nguyễn Kim]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |)|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|.| | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:#7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | |Hoang | | |Uong| | |Ngoc| | | | | | | |Hoang=[[Nguyễn Hoàng]]|boxstyle_Hoang=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid|Uong=Nguyễn Uông|boxstyle_Uong=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Ngoc=Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Bảo|boxstyle_Ngoc=background-color:; border:1.5px solid}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Nguyen | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Nguyen=[[Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Lan | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Lan=[[Nguyễn Phúc Lan]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Tan | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tan=[[Nguyễn Phúc Tần]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Thai | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Thai=[[Nguyễn Phúc Thái]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Chu | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Chu=[[Nguyễn Phúc Chu]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Tru | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tru=[[Nguyễn Phúc Trú]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color: #7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid | | | | | | | | | | Kh | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kh=[[Nguyễn Phúc Khoát]] {{br}}}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |)|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|.| | | | }}
{{Tree chart||boxstyle=background-color:; border:1.5px solid| | | | | | | | | | Lu | | |Hieu| | |Thua | | | | | | | | Lu=[[Nguyễn Phúc Luân]]|boxstyle_Lu=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Hieu=[[Nguyễn Phúc Hiệu]]|boxstyle_Hieu=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Thua=[[Nguyễn Phúc Thuần]]|boxstyle_Thua=background-color:#7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | |!| | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid| | | | | | | | | | |Anh | | |Duong| | | | | | | | | | |Anh='''[[Gia Long]]''' (1) {{br}} <small>r. 1802–20</small>|Duong=[[Nguyễn Phúc Dương]]|boxstyle_Duong=background-color:#7FFFD4; border:1.5px solid}}
{{Tree chart| | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid| | | |Cah | | | | | | | | | | | | |Dam | | | | | | |Cah=[[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]] |boxstyle_Cah=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Dam= '''[[Minh Mạng]]''' (2){{br}} <small>r. 1820–41</small>}}
{{Tree chart| | | | |!| | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|-|.| }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid| | | |Dn | | | |Mt| | |Md| | Tog| | |Mbuu| | | |Dn=[[Nguyễn Phúc Mỹ Đường]]|boxstyle_Dn=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Mt=[[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Thẩm]]|boxstyle_Mt=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Md=[[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Định]]|boxstyle_Md=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Tog='''[[Thiệu Trị]]''' (3){{br}} <small>r. 1841–47</small>|Mbuu=[[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Bửu]]|boxstyle_Mbuu=background-color:; border:1.5px solid}}
{{Tree chart| | | | |!| | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|-|.}}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: ; border:2px solid| | | |Du | | | |Hbao| | |HY| |Nh| | | |Hd| | | Hc| | |Du=Nguyễn Phúc Tăng Du |boxstyle_Du=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Hd='''[[Hiep Hoa|Hiệp Hòa]]''' (6) {{br}} <small>r. August–December 1883</small>|boxstyle_Hd=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid|HY=[[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Y]]|boxstyle_HY=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Nh='''[[Tự Đức]]''' (4){{br}} <small>r. 1848–83</small>|boxstyle_Nh=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid|Hc=[[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai]]|Hbao=[[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Bảo]]|boxstyle_Hbao=background-color:; border:1.5px solid}}
{{Tree chart| | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|-|.| }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #DA70D6; border:2px solid| | | |Cd | | | | | | | | |Ua| | | | | |Uk| | | | |Ud| | | |Ul| |Cd=[[Cường Để]]|boxstyle_Cd=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Ua='''[[Dục Đức]]''' (5) {{br}} <small>r. 20–23 July 1883</small>|Uk='''[[Đồng Khánh]]''' (9) {{br}} <small>r. 1885–89</small>|boxstyle_Uk=background-color:#E0FFD1; border:2px solid|Hd='''[[Hiep Hoa|Hiệp Hòa]]''' (6) {{br}} <small>r. August–December 1883</small>|Ud='''[[Kiến Phúc]]''' (7) {{br}} <small>r. December 1883 – July 1884</small>|Ul='''[[Hàm Nghi]]''' (8) {{br}} <small>r. July 1884–85</small>}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #E0FFD1; border:2px solid| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Bl| | | | | |Bd| | | | | | | | |Bl='''[[Thành Thái]]'''(10) {{br}} <small>r. 1889–1907</small>|Bd='''[[Khải Định]]''' (12) {{br}} <small>r. 1916–25</small>}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color: #E0FFD1; border:2px solid| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Vs| | | | | |Vt| | | | | | | | |Vs='''[[Duy Tân]]''' (11) {{br}} <small>r. 1907–16</small>|Vt='''[[Bảo Đại]]''' (13) {{br}} <small>r. 1925–45</small>}}
{{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | |,|-|-|-|+| | | | | | | }}
{{Tree chart|boxstyle=background-color:1; border:2px solid| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Gvs| |Bt| | |Bl| | | | | | |Gvs=Bảo Ngọc ([[Georges Vĩnh San]]) <small>(b. 1933)</small>|boxstyle_Gvs=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Bt=[[Bảo Long]] <small>(1934–2007)</small>|boxstyle_Bt=background-color:; border:1.5px solid|Bl=[[Bảo Thăng]] <small>(1944–2017)</small>}}
{{Tree chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}

=== Succession line ===
{{Tree list}}
* [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Thiệu Trị]] (1801–1847)''
{{Tree list}}
** [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Tự Đức]] (1829–1883)''
** {{Tree list/final branch}} ''[[Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Cai|Kiên Thái Vương]] (1845–1876)''
*** {{Tree list/final branch}} [[File:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Đồng Khánh]] (1864–1889)''
**** [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Khải Định]] (1885–1925)''
***** [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Bảo Đại]] (1913–1997)''
****** ''Crown Prince [[Bảo Long]] (1936–2007)''
****** ''Prince [[Bảo Thăng]] (1943–2017)''
*** {{Tree list/final branch}} [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Kiến Phúc]] (1869–1884)''
*** {{Tree list/final branch}} [[Image:Simple silver crown.svg|15px]] ''[[Hàm Nghi]] (1871–1944)''
**** {{Tree list/final branch}}  ''{{ill|Prince Minh Đức|vi|Nguyễn Phúc Minh Đức}} (1910–1990)''
{{Tree list/end}}
{{Tree list/end}}

== Symbols ==

=== Flags ===
{{See also|List of flags of Vietnam|List of flags of French Indochina|Flags of the Nguyễn dynasty's administrative units}}

The Nguyễn dynasty's national flag or the Imperial flag first appeared during the reign of Emperor [[Gia Long]]. It was a yellow flag with a single or three horizontal red stripes, sometimes in 1822, it was entirely blank yellow or white.{{sfnp|Heath|2003|p=197}} The emperor's personal flag was a golden dragon spitting fire, surrounded by clouds, a silver moon, and a black crescent on a yellow background.{{sfnp|Heath|2003|p=197}}

=== Seals ===
{{Main|Seals of the Nguyễn dynasty}}

The Nguyễn dynasty's seal are rich and diverse in types and had strict rules and laws that regulated their manipulation, management, and use.<ref name="Cục-Văn-thư-và-Lưu-trữ-nhà-nước-ấn-chương-Triều-Nguyễn">{{cite web|url= https://luutru.gov.vn/vai-tro-va-vi-tri-dong-dau-cua-cac-loai-an-tren-tai-lieu-chau-ban-trieu-nguyen-213-vtlt.htm|title= Vai trò và vị trí đóng dấu của các loại ấn trên tài liệu Châu bản triều Nguyễn. 10/01/2012 – Lượt xem: 931 – Trải qua các triều đại, ấn chương Việt Nam ngày càng phong phú về loại hình và hình thể.|date= 10 January 2012|access-date= 4 April 2021|author= Ths. Đoàn Thu Thủy – Nguyễn Thu Hường|publisher= Cục Văn thư và Lưu trữ nhà nước (State Records And Archives Management Department Of VietNam)|language= vi|archive-date= 16 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716195556/https://luutru.gov.vn/vai-tro-va-vi-tri-dong-dau-cua-cac-loai-an-tren-tai-lieu-chau-ban-trieu-nguyen-213-vtlt.htm|url-status= live}}</ref> The common practice of using seals was clearly recorded in the book "Khâm định Đại Nam hội điển sự lệ" on how to use seals, how to place them, and on what kinds of documents, which was compiled by the Cabinet of the Nguyễn dynasty in the year Minh Mạng 3 (1822).<ref name="Cục-Văn-thư-và-Lưu-trữ-nhà-nước-ấn-chương-Triều-Nguyễn"/> The various types of seals of the Nguyễn dynasty had different names based on their function, namely Bảo (寶), Tỷ (璽), Ấn (印), Chương (章), Ấn chương (印章), Kim bảo tỷ (金寶璽), Quan phòng (關防), Đồ ký (圖記), Kiềm ký (鈐記), Tín ký (信記), Ấn Ký (印記), Trưởng ký (長記), and Ký (記).<ref name="Vietnam-Breaking-News-2011">{{cite web|url= https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2011/10/seals-of-nguyen-dynasty-showcased/|title= Seals of Nguyen Dynasty showcased. Around 140 seals of the Nguyen Dynasty are displayed at an exhibition which opened in Hanoi on October 12.|date= 13 October 2011|access-date= 25 March 2021|author= english.cinet.vn|publisher= VietNam Breaking News |archive-date= 16 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716204911/https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2011/10/seals-of-nguyen-dynasty-showcased/|url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="Cục-Văn-thư-và-Lưu-trữ-nhà-nước-ấn-chương-Triều-Nguyễn"/>

Seals in the Nguyễn dynasty were overseen by a pair of agencies referred to as the Office of Ministry Seals Management – Officers on Duty (印司 – 直處, ''Ấn ty – Trực xứ''), this is a term that refers to two agencies which were established within each of the [[Three Departments and Six Ministries|Six Ministries]], these agencies were tasked with keeping track of the seals, files, and chapters of their ministry.<ref name="Đỗ-Văn-Ninh-2002">''Từ điển chức quan Việt Nam'', Đỗ Văn Ninh, 2002, trang 327 mục 571. Hộ ấn ty, hộ trực xứ (in [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]).</ref> On duty of the Office of Ministry Seals Management were the correspondents of each individual ministry that received and distributed documents and records of a government agency.<ref name="Đỗ-Văn-Ninh-2002"/> These two agencies usually had a few dozen officers who would import documents from their ministry.<ref name="Đỗ-Văn-Ninh-2002"/> Usually the name of the ministry is directly attached to the seal agency's name, for example "Office of Civil Affairs Ministry Seals Management – Civil Affairs Ministry Officers on Duty" (吏印司吏直處, ''Lại Ấn ty Lại Trực xứ'').<ref name="Đỗ-Văn-Ninh-2002"/>

Since the Nguyễn dynasty period seals have a fairly uniform shape (with or without a handle), the uniform description of these seals in Vietnamese are:<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty">{{cite web|url= http://baotanglichsu.vn/vi/Articles/3101/18676/an-trien-djong-trieu-nguyen.html|title= Ấn triện đồng triều Nguyễn. – Ấn triện bằng đồng là loại liên quan đến uy quyền. Vua Nguyễn cấp ấn triện cho những bề tôi là để ban ủy quyền cho các bề tôi thay mặt vua cai trị dân. Nghiên cứu về ấn triện bằng đồng thời Nguyễn sẽ hiểu thêm về hệ thống quan chức triều Nguyễn cũng như nhiều vấn đề khác liên quan.|date= 14 October 2015|access-date= 5 April 2021|author= Lan Phương (Tổng hợp)|publisher= [[National Museum of Vietnamese History|Bào Tàng Lich Sù Quóc Gia (Vietnam National Museum of History)]]|language= vi|archive-date= 17 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220717173134/http://baotanglichsu.vn/vi/Articles/3101/18676/an-trien-djong-trieu-nguyen.html|url-status= live}}</ref>
* ''Thân ấn'' – The geometric block, or body, of the seal.<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty"/>
* ''[[Seal knob|Núm ấn]]'' – The handle for pressing the seal down on texts. In case the seal is shaped like a pyramid, there is no knob.<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty"/>
* ''Mặt ấn'' – Where the main content of the seal (symbol or word) is engraved, this area is usually in the face down position. The stamp surface is often used up to engrave letters or drawings.<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty"/>
* ''Lưng ấn'' – The face of the seal, where other information about the seal is engraved, usually in the supine position. In the case of the flat-head pyramid seal (''ấn triện hình tháp đầu bằng''), the flat head is the back.<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty"/>
* ''Hình ấn'' – A word used to indicate the impression of the seal on a text.<ref name="BTLSQGVN-Bronze-seals-of-the-Nguyễn-Dynasty"/>

Seals were also given to people after they received a [[Vietnamese nobility|noble title]].<ref name="L'Association-des-Amis-du-Vieux-Huế-Baron-de-An-Bình-1">{{cite web|url= https://www.aavh.org/?p=681|title= AP0670-Sogny-Marien. Titre : Hué, 1939 – Léon Sogny est élevé à la dignité nobiliaire de baron d'An Binh (13).|date= 17 September 2013|access-date= 24 March 2021|author= Christophe|publisher= L'Association des Amis du Vieux Huế|language= fr|archive-date= 5 April 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220405000116/https://www.aavh.org/?p=681|url-status= dead}}</ref> For example, after Léon Louis Sogny received the title of "[[Baron]] of An Bình" (安平男) in the year Bảo Đại 14 (保大拾肆年, 1939) he was also given a golden seal and a'' [[Bai (decoration)|Kim Bài]]'' (金牌) with his noble title on it. The seal had the seal script inscription ''An Bình Nam chi ấn'' (安平男之印).<ref name="L'Association-des-Amis-du-Vieux-Huế-Baron-de-An-Bình-2">{{cite web|url= https://www.aavh.org/?p=689|title= AP0678-Sogny-Marien. Titre : Hué, 1939 – Léon Sogny est élevé à la dignité nobiliaire de baron d'An Binh (12).|date= 17 September 2013|access-date= 24 March 2021|author= Christophe|publisher= L'Association des Amis du Vieux Huế|language= fr|archive-date= 26 March 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220326100337/https://www.aavh.org/?p=689|url-status= dead}}</ref>

In its 143 years of existence, the government of the Nguyễn dynasty had created more than 100 imperial seals.<ref name="VNBN-Seals">{{cite web|url= https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2016/02/no-royal-seal-left-in-hue-today/|title= No royal seal left in Hue today. VietNamNet Bridge – It is a great regret that none of more than 100 seals of the Nguyen emperors are in Hue City today.|date= 10 February 2016|access-date= 8 March 2021|author= VietNamNet Bridge|publisher= VietNam Breaking News|language= en|archive-date= 16 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716131720/https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2016/02/no-royal-seal-left-in-hue-today/|url-status= live}}</ref> These imperial seals were made of [[jade]], [[bronze]], silver, gold, [[ivory]], and [[meteorite]].

=== Sun, moon, auspicious clouds, and the Yin-Yang symbol ===
[[File:3 Tiền (錢) - Tự Đức 01.jpg|thumb|right|A silver [[Tự Đức Thông Bảo]] (嗣德通寶) coin depicting an imperial sun symbol.]]

Like [[Imperial China]] and [[History of Korea|Royal Korea]], the Vietnamese used the [[sun]] as the "Symbol of the Empire" and auspicious clouds and the [[Taijitu]] as "Symbols of the State".<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam">De Rode Leeuw – [http://www.hubert-herald.nl/Vietnam.htm Armorial of Vietnam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816164911/http://www.hubert-herald.nl/Vietnam.htm |date=16 August 2021 }} by Hubert de Vries. Retrieved: 19 August 2021.</ref> The [[Heraldry|heraldic]] systems of both the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties were similar to those found in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> The sun symbol as a flaming disc in Vietnam dates back to the 11th century and during the Nguyễn dynasty period this symbol was often depicted with pointed rays.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> The moon symbolised the state, the sun the empire, stars the sovereigns, and clouds the heaven.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/>

The "[[Achievement (heraldry)|Achievement]] of the Empire" and the "Achievement of the State" were identical to their Imperial Chinese counterparts, the "Achievement of the Empire" first appeared in Vietnam during the 11th century and were identical during the Later Lê and Nguyễn periods consisting of two Dragons surrounding a flaming sun, while the "Achievement of the State" is known to have been used as early as the [[Trần dynasty]] period and this early Trần version consists of two Dragons surrounding a [[lotus flower]] (a symbol of [[Buddhism]]).<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> During the Nguyễn dynasty period the "Achievement of the State" typically consisted of two dragons surrounding a moon or two dragons surrounding a Taijitu, this symbol was commonly found on the caps of high-ranking mandarins.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> The two dragons surrounding the moon implies that the emperor, or "sovereign", (represented by the dragons) was also the head of state (represented by either the moon or a Yin-Yang symbol).<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> During the period of French domination (法屬, ''Pháp thuộc'') these symbols could be interpreted as the [[French National Assembly]] (that is: the [[French people]]) was the sovereign over the Empire (the dragons), the Nguyễn Emperor now merely being the head of state (moon or Yin-Yang symbol).<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> Moons also appeared on the shields of common Nguyễn dynasty soldiers representing the state, while soldiers of the imperial guards sometimes had shields depicting a red sun showcasing that they were a function of the empire.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/>

=== Dragons ===
{{Main|Vietnamese dragon}}

[[Vietnamese dragon|Dragon motifs]] appeared on many state symbols during the Nguyễn dynasty period including on imperial edicts, coins, buildings, and the badges of the Imperial Guard.<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> During the Minh Mạng period (1820–1841) dragons on silver [[Tiền]] coins were often depicted facing dexter (to the right), while during the Thiệu Trị period (1841–1847) and later these coins depicted dragons guardant (facing forward).<ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/> Dragons were considered to be one of the four sacred animals together with the [[Fenghuang|Phượng hoàng]] (Phoenix), [[Qilin|Kỳ lân]] (Unicorn), and the [[Spirit turtle|Linh quy]] (Sacred turtle).<ref name="Thua-Thien-Hue-Online-Newspaper-Dragons-2018">{{cite web|url= http://news.baothuathienhue.vn/admiring-dragons-and-phoenixes-on-the-treasures-of-the-nguyen-dynasty-a61477.html|title= Admiring Dragons and Phoenixes on the Treasures of the Nguyen Dynasty. – This is also the name of the exhibition which is co-organized by the National Museum of History and Hue Monuments Conservation Center. The exhibition opening ceremony was on the morning of September 7 (7/9), at Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities.|date= 8 September 2018|access-date= 19 August 2021|author= Story and photos: Dong Van|publisher= Thua Thien Hue Online Newspaper|language= en|archive-date= 19 August 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210819172536/http://news.baothuathienhue.vn/admiring-dragons-and-phoenixes-on-the-treasures-of-the-nguyen-dynasty-a61477.html|url-status= live}}</ref> During the Nguyễn dynasty period the depiction of dragons in Vietnamese art reached their zenith and the quality and variety of Nguyễn dynasty dragons was much higher than those of earlier dynasties.<ref name="Thua-Thien-Hue-Online-Newspaper-Dragons-2018"/>

In the third month of the year ''Bính Tý'', or Gia Long 15 (1816), Emperor Gia Long instructed the court to create special clothes, hats, and seals for himself and the crown prince to denote independence from China.<ref name="Baotanglichsu-Rồng-5-móng">{{cite web|url= http://baotanglichsu.vn/vi/Articles/2001/66160/giai-ma-rong-5-mong-cua-nha-nguyen.html|title= Giải mã 'rồng 5 móng' của nhà Nguyễn. Để thể hiện tính độc lập giữa Hoàng đế Việt Nam và các nước láng giềng, Vua Gia Long đã có chỉ dụ về quy định các hình thêu, đúc rồng trên trang phục, đồ dùng của vua và hoàng thái tử chỉ được thêu rồng 5 móng, khác với rồng 4 móng của Trung Hoa.|date= 3 June 2012|access-date= 25 March 2021|author= Bee (baodatviet.vn)|publisher= [[National Museum of Vietnamese History|BẢO TÀNG LỊCH SỬ QUỐC GIA (VIETNAM NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY)]]|language= vi|archive-date= 16 July 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220716131721/http://baotanglichsu.vn/vi/Articles/2001/66160/giai-ma-rong-5-mong-cua-nha-nguyen.html|url-status= live}}</ref> These regalia all depicted [[Chinese dragon#Dragon claws|five-clawed dragons]] (蠪𠄼𤔻, ''rồng 5 móng''), in Chinese symbolism (including Vietnamese symbolism) five-clawed dragons are symbols of an Emperor, while four-clawed dragons are seen as symbols or kings.<ref name="Baotanglichsu-Rồng-5-móng"/> To denote the high status of Emperor all monarchial robes, hats, and seals were adorned with five-clawed dragons and ordered the creation of new seals with five-clawed dragons as their seal knobs to showcase imperial legitimacy.<ref name="Baotanglichsu-Rồng-5-móng"/> Meanwhile, the wardrobes and other symbols of vassals and princes were adorned with four-clawed dragons symbolising their status as "kings".<ref>[[Đại Nam thực lục]] chính biên, trang 921 tập 1 NXB Giáo dục 2002. (in [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]]).</ref><ref name="Baotanglichsu-Rồng-5-móng"/>

The two [[Emblem of Vietnam#List|national coats of arms]] of the French protectorate of Annam would also consist of golden dragons with one being a sword per fess charged with a scroll inscribed with two Traditional Chinese characters ''Đại Nam'' (大南) and supported by a single Vietnamese dragon and the other being a golden [[Chinese dragon#Dragon claws|five-clawed dragon]] positioned [[Attitude (heraldry)#Positions indicating direction|affronté]].<ref name="Hymnes-et-pavillons-d'Indochine-1941">{{cite book|url= https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5848625d/f4.item|title= Hymnes et pavillons d'Indochine.|date= 1941|access-date= 9 March 2021|work= [[Gallica]] ([[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]).|language= fr|archive-date= 16 April 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210416030129/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5848625d/f4.item|url-status= live}}</ref><ref name="Hubert-de-Vries-Armorial-of-Vietnam"/>

=== Gallery of symbols ===

<gallery>
File:First flag of the Nguyen Dynasty.svg|Flag of Nguyễn period Vietnam.{{sfnp|Heath|2003|p=197}}
File:Golden seal Sắc mệnh chi bảo.jpg|An Imperial seal made during the [[Minh Mạng]] period.
File:Roof detail, dragon.jpg|[[Vietnamese dragon|Dragon motifs]] are found everywhere in imperial buildings.
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[List of monarchs of Vietnam]]
* [[Nguyễn Trường Tộ]] – served Emperor Tự Đức
* [[Hà Ngại]], official of the dynasty

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==

=== Books ===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{citation|last=Amirell|first=Stefan E.|year=2019|title=Pirates of Empire Colonisation and Maritime Violence in Southeast Asia|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-63682-7}}
* {{citation|last=Avakov|first=Alexander V.|year=2015|title=Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Years 1–2012 Population, GDP at PPP, and GDP Per Capita. Volume 1, By Rank |publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-1-62894-101-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Balfour|first1=Francis|title=The Works of Francis Maitland Balfour: Volume 3|year=1884}}
* {{Cite book|title=Early Photography in Vietnam|last=Bennett|first=Terry|publisher= Renaissance Books|year=2020|isbn=978-19129-6-104-7}}
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=== Articles ===
* {{cite journal |title=Early Nineteenth-Century Vietnamese Catholics and Others in the Pages of the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi|last=Cooke|first=Nola| author-mask = |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies|year=2004 |volume=35|issue=2|pages=261–285 |doi = 10.1017/S0022463404000141|s2cid=153524504|doi-access=|via=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
* {{cite journal |title=Calling for Wind and Rain" Rituals: Environment, Emotion, and Governance in Nguyễn Vietnam, 1802–1883|last=Dyt|first=Karynth| author-mask = |journal=Journal of Vietnamese Studies|year=2015 |volume=10 |issue=2|pages=1–42 |doi = 10.1525/vs.2015.10.2.1}}
* {{cite journal |last= Friedland |first=William H. |journal=American Journal of Sociology |year=1977 |title=Community and Revolution in Modern Vietnam. Alexander B. Woodside|publisher=University of Chicago |location=Chicago |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=520–521 |doi=10.1086/226584}}
* {{cite journal |title=The 'Last' Friendship Exchanges between Siam and Vietnam, 1879–1882: Siam between Vietnam and France – and Beyond|last=Koizomi|first=Junko | author-mask = |journal=TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia|year=2015 |volume=4 |issue=1|pages=131–164 |doi = 10.1017/trn.2015.18|s2cid=163196181|via=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
* {{cite journal|title='Confucianism' in Vietnam: A State of the Field Essay|last=Kelley|first=Liam C.|author-mask=|journal=Journal of Vietnamese Studies|year=2006|volume=1|issue=1–2|pages=314–370|doi=10.1525/vs.2006.1.1-2.314|doi-access=|via=[[University of California Press]]|url=http://vs.ucpress.edu/content/1/1-2/314|access-date=9 August 2016|archive-date=27 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827051516/http://vs.ucpress.edu/content/1/1-2/314|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite journal |author=Nguyễn Quang Trung Tiến |title=Hệ quả cuộc cách mạng 1789 đối với tiến trình thâm nhập Việt Nam của chủ nghĩa tư bản Pháp và "tấn bi kịch Gia Long" |journal=Tạp chí Thông tin Khoa học và Công nghệ |volume=1 |issue=23 |date=1999}}
* {{Cite thesis|last=Rungswasdisab|first=Puangthong|title=War and trade: Siamese interventions in Cambodia, 1767–1851|date=1995|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Wollongong Australia|url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1446/|access-date=16 August 2021|archive-date=20 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120232323/https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1446/|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |title=Politics and Society in Viet-Nam during the Early Nguyen Period (1802–62)|last=Smith|first=R. B.| author-mask = |journal= The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|year=1974|volume= 106|issue=2|pages=153–169 |doi =10.1017/S0035869X00131995|s2cid=155581972 |doi-access=}}
* {{cite journal |title=Securing and Developing the Southwestern Region: The Role of the Cham and Malay Colonies in Vietnam (18th–19th centuries)|last=Weber|first=Nicholas| author-mask = |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|year=2011 |volume=54 |issue=5|pages=739–772 |doi = 10.1163/156852011X614037|doi-access=|via=[[Brill Publishers]]}}
* {{cite journal  | last1 = Shaofei  | first1 = YE  | last2 = Guoqing  | first2 = Zhang  | year = 2016  | url = http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZGBJ201603017  | title = The relationship between Nanyue and Annam in the ancient historical records of China and Vietnam  | journal = Honghe Prefecture Center for Vietnamese Studies, Honghe University  | via = CNKI Journal Translation Project  | access-date = 9 September 2021 | archive-date = 16 October 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181016125913/http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZGBJ201603017  | url-status = dead  }}
* {{cite journal  | title = Defining the Hundred Yue  | first = William  | last = Meacham  | journal = Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association  | volume = 15  | year = 1996  | pages = 93–100 | doi = 10.7152/bippa.v15i0.11537 | doi-broken-date = 12 July 2025 }}
* {{cite journal  | title = The Austroasiatics in Ancient South China: Some Lexical Evidence  | first1 = Jerry   | last1 = Norman   | first2 = Tsu-lin   | last2 = Mei |author1-link=Jerry Norman (sinologist) |author2-link=Mei Tsu-lin  | journal   =Monumenta Serica  | year = 1976   | volume = 32   |pages = 274–301  | doi = 10.1080/02549948.1976.11731121 }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Nguyễn dynasty}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20070508082352/http://nguyenphuoctoc.net/ homepage of The Nguyễn Dynasty]}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-royalhouse|Nguyễn dynasty||1802|1945|}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Tây Sơn dynasty]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Vietnamese dynasties|Dynasty]] of [[Vietnam]]|years=1 June 1802 – 30 August 1945}}
{{s-vac|reason=[[August Revolution|Monarchy abolished]]<br />[[North Vietnam|Republic]] [[Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam|declared]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Nguyễn dynasty topics}}
{{Emperors of Nguyễn Dynasty}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen Dynasty}}
[[Category:States and territories established in 1802]]
[[Category:Nguyen dynasty| ]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Vietnam]]
[[Category:Nguyen dynasty emperors| ]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of Asia|Vietnam, Nguyen Dynasty]]
[[Category:Vietnamese independence movement]]
[[Category:Vietnamese dynasties]]
[[Category:Former countries in Vietnamese history]]
[[Category:1802 establishments in Vietnam]]
[[Category:Former countries of the interwar period]]
[[Category:Tributaries of Imperial China]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1945]]